1 in a million

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Actually, it's 1 for 14.5 million...dollars...for the license plate 1 in the UAE. Abu Dhabi businessman Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri, seen at the auction in the photo to the left, was apparently prepared to pay almost twice that amount to possess the plate.

While the special number plate auction raised a significant amount of money was raised for the establishment of a rehabilitation centre for the victims of traffic accidents ($24.4 million), it still seems wrong somehow. Not the fundraising, but the willingness to spend so much on a license plate. Maybe it's just me. But I am certainly as materialistic as anybody else (sadly), and I could something better to spend the money on, and still support a good cause.

How about Product (Red) for example, where the seller gives a portion of the proceeds to charitable work in Africa, at no extra cost to the buyer? My iPod Shuffle cost the same as the shuffles in other colours that do not bear the Product (Red) logo, yet Apple made a donation when I bought it. Or if you are more inclined to pure philanthropy, you can easily send a donation to any of hundreds of worthwhile causes. No license required.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Self indulgence is an easy trap to fall into. How much easier when you have the funds available that these folks obviously have?
24 February 2008 at 22:00
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