The pledge seems to have moved from more specific and concrete, to more general and flexible . The reasons for this you’ve outlined make sense, but it does now have a more “watered down”, generic feel since the originals. I’m not sure there’s any easy remedy to this though.
The one that feels t have the best balance to me is the middle one (copy pastad below) which doesn’t have any blanks. There’s strength and sense of comradery in everyone signing up t exactly the same pledge. I remember the pride in taking the hippocratic oath as a doctor. This retains the “10%” and “for the rest of my life or until the day I retire” rather than blanks to fill in.
“I recognise that I can use part of my income to do a significant amount of good. Since I can live well enough on a smaller income, I pledge that for the rest of my life or until the day I retire, I shall give at least ten percent of what I earn to whichever organisations can most effectively use it to improve the lives of others, now and in the years to come. I make this pledge freely, openly, and sincerely.”
Jeff just answered this and I agree it’s a good line now :) My only tiny question to add is why do you need the “now and in the years to come” at the end of the second to last sentence. It seems redundant and doesn’t add much flourish.
But this is mostly my instinct and vibe, I can understand the reasons for moving in the direction you have!
Interesting — that’s not how I would have read that language. I would have instead said that this phrase clarifies that the person pledging will repeatedly identify the most effective organizations, rather than just identifying the best organization(s) once at the time of the pledge and then donating to those entities throughout their life.
The pledge seems to have moved from more specific and concrete, to more general and flexible . The reasons for this you’ve outlined make sense, but it does now have a more “watered down”, generic feel since the originals. I’m not sure there’s any easy remedy to this though.
The one that feels t have the best balance to me is the middle one (copy pastad below) which doesn’t have any blanks. There’s strength and sense of comradery in everyone signing up t exactly the same pledge. I remember the pride in taking the hippocratic oath as a doctor. This retains the “10%” and “for the rest of my life or until the day I retire” rather than blanks to fill in.
“I recognise that I can use part of my income to do a significant amount of good. Since I can live well enough on a smaller income, I pledge that for the rest of my life or until the day I retire, I shall give at least ten percent of what I earn to whichever organisations can most effectively use it to improve the lives of others, now and in the years to come. I make this pledge freely, openly, and sincerely.”
Jeff just answered this and I agree it’s a good line now :)
M
y only tiny question to add is why do you need the “now and in the years to come” at the end of the second to last sentence. It seems redundant and doesn’t add much flourish.But this is mostly my instinct and vibe, I can understand the reasons for moving in the direction you have!
I think without the “now and in the years to come” part people might think that it’s only about improving the lives of others who currently exist?
Interesting — that’s not how I would have read that language. I would have instead said that this phrase clarifies that the person pledging will repeatedly identify the most effective organizations, rather than just identifying the best organization(s) once at the time of the pledge and then donating to those entities throughout their life.