Change The World

Day 2,216, 19:28 • Published in India Serbia • by Ind1anMartyr

Disclaimer : Nothing to do with eRepublik, just an inspiring real life incident

Hi guys,

My apologies for being laid back in-game, real life has unfortunately been much more demanding of my time and presence and to top it, the weekend is upon us which means I fade in and out!

Anyway today morning I came across this brilliant story which should put all pessimists to rest. I closely bond with this since it is my belief too that anyone can do anything they want as long as they have the right support.

The only reason I am publishing this is that among those who read it, maybe some will get inspired and try it out? No need to take it literally and go and look for some bright, homeless person! You can do it in many different ways - maybe the hard working, smart, supermarket cashier who would love a better paid job but is not qualified enough? Maybe the bright kid who delivers your newspapers?

Hell, anyone you think might benefit! Why not give it a try? (also I do not mean literally go ahead and buy a laptop for the person if you cannot afford it! but why not instead spend some time teaching the person the ABC of whatever skill you are good at and helping him/her get ahead)

Anyway, end of blabber from me onto the story 🙂

Homeless man becomes AN APP PHENOMENON
Offered a choice between $100 and coding lessons, he chose the latter


In August this year, a homeless man named Leo Grand was approached by a stranger who offered him two choices. “I will come back tomorrow and give you $100 in cash. Or I will come back tomorrow and give you three Java-Script books and a super cheap basic laptop. I will then come an hour early from work each day – when you feel prepared – and teach you to code,” said the stranger, a young programmer named Patrick McConlogue. McConlogue was a believer in the Confucian maxim, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

When McConlogue returned the next day, Grand had made his decision. He did not want the $100. He wanted to learn to code. McConlogue then prepared a package for Grand, containing a laptop, a solar charger, and three Java-Script books. He also wrote about his experiment at medium.com. Reactions were mixed. Sam Biddle at Silicon Valley gossip site Valleywag was scathing: “Now McConlogue will just have to address how a homeless man will safely use a laptop on the street without being a victim of rampant unreported violence against the homeless, theft, where Leo will do this ‘coding,’ lack of access to mental healthcare, substance abuse treatment, unemployment, the unlivable minimum wage, the affordable housing dearth, and other minor bumps in the Code Your Way to The Bourgeoisie roadmap,” he wrote. Commenters piled on, “This brossiah (McConlogue) is worthy of scorn for his simultaneous arrogance and naivety,” snarled one reader. “It’s a stunt, and it insults those who are dedicated to reducing homelessness through job training, family counseling, substance abuse treatment and financial assistance,” moralised another. Others were more supportive. “But the sad truth is that helping homeless people – even one homeless person – in any real way requires a level of commitment that many of us are not willing to undertake. McConlogue, misguided as he is, dared to proclaim in public that he is willing to undertake that level of commitment. For that, we cannot forgive him,” wrote Slate’s Will Oremus, commenting on the hate McConlogue had received.

After a few weeks had passed, Business Insider’s Caroline Moss met with Grand. “Leo told me how each weekday, McConlogue comes to Leo’s regular spot for an hour, usually around 8 am... Leo spoke so confidently that I kept stopping him to make sure that he had only learned about coding just a mere four weeks earlier,” she wrote.

The process was not without its pitfalls. The police picked up Grand for vagrancy and confiscated his computer. They released him after the prosecutors’ office came under a lot of pressure from people following the experiment.

This week, Leo Grand’s first app, ‘Trees for Cars’, went on sale at the iStore and Google Play Store. The app calculates the amount of carbon dioxide saved by car-pooling and it has been doing very well indeed. It looks like Mc-Conlogue and Grand have had the last laugh, over all the outraged naysayers.

For more: themedium.com, businessinsider.com



MAKING A CHANGE: McConlogue (left), Grand (centre) and McConlogue’s boss John Katzman

JAI HIND!!!