Core Beliefs.....

By Patrick Driessen

"I looked at all the caged animals. . . . . . . the cast-offs of human society. I saw in their eyes love and hope, fear and dread, sadness and betrayal. And I was angry!" - Philip Wollen

One of the most passionate, inspiring and exceptional people I have met in recent times is Philip Wollen.

He's a former Citibank investment banker who personally donated over $50 million to The Winsome Constance Kindness Trust he founded to help change the lives of people and animals around the globe.

He and his family have built up an impressive portfolio of 350+ humanitarian projects for children, animals and the environment in over 40 countries; schools, shelters, sanctuaries, orphanages, clinics, ambulances, bio-gas plants and hospitals. Philip is known for being a VC for Kindness. He received the “Order of Australia” (2005), “Australian Humanitarian of the Year” (2006) and Australian of the Year – Victoria” (2007). He's one of the most impressive and passionate philanthropic entrepreneurs you'll ever meet!

He's not only passionate to help change the world and save the planet; he fights for it, he acts on it, he innovates, he leads, he executes and he creates a massive positive impact on thousands of people and animals!

In this blog post I would like to share some of Philip's core beliefs, because they are thought provoking and carry a lot of lessons learned and inspiration in them. Here they are:

• Act! Don’t react. See a need, fix it first. Worry about the details later. If you wait until you are asked you have just missed a golden opportunity. They are fleeting and rare.
• None of us is as smart as all of us. Synergy means 2 plus 2 equals 5!
• There is nothing we can’t achieve if we don’t care who gets the credit for it.
• Humankind’s greatest sin is anthropocentrism – where human life is valued above all other sentient life. Msirtnecoporhtna - backwards or forwards it makes no sense. If Moses could spell it, he would have put in his top 10.
• In their capacity to feel pain and fear, a pig is a dog is a bear is a boy.
• One man can make a difference and every man should try. (This includes women)
• Just because you can do little does not mean you can do nothing.
• Start now! There is not enough darkness in the world to put out the light of a single candle.
• The most disgusting four letter word in the English language is “cage”.
• We don’t “own” a “pet”. We are “guardians” of “companion animals”.
• A caged bird is proof of the moral bankruptcy of its’ jailer. “A robin redbreast in a cage puts all heaven in a rage”.
• For the animal kingdom, the Holocaust never ended.
• Cruelty to an animal is something we learn. Put a child in a room with a toy and a bunny. If she plays with the toy and is cruel to the bunny, I will buy you a new car.
• When animals do something noble we say they are behaving “like humans.” When humans do something disgusting we say they are behaving “like animals.” Clumsy use of the English language perpetuates the myth that animals are inferior and disposable beings. This makes the task of humanitarians even more difficult.
• Our culture, religion and tradition starts with oral history. Our belief in the superiority of humans is rooted in the darkness and superstition, passed on by word of mouth for centuries. It has become holy, writ large by human hands. If we taped an oral history of animal kingdom, the anguished screams would drown out the sound and fury of the Big Bang.
• If an animal ever wrote a bestseller it would still be published under "Anon".
• I can understand why some theologians believe animals have no souls. To the tortured animal, the only evidence of the existence of God is the absence of the torturer. In their cages, I would have little difficulty concluding that my jailer was living proof that God is deaf, blind, indifferent or dead. Standing in front of a torture chamber I realised the beast was outside the bars and I was two yards away from becoming an atheist.
• The Circus is to Entertainment, what Vivisection is to Science, what Pornography is to Art.

WOW!
If you would like to learn more about the great work Philip and his family are doing via their Winsome Constance Kindness Trust, please click here. I think it's one of the best charities you can support and I hope more entrepreneurs, leaders and philanthropists will follow Philip as their leading example! I most certainly will!

"You cannot do a kindness too soon, because you never know how soon it will be too late!" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanks, warm regards & success,


Patrick