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Comment by AndrewKemendo | Hacker News Reader

Nelson Mandela had a great quote on this topic in the context of his relationship or lack thereof with his children.

I don't remember it verbatim but it was basically: You (my children) all taken care of you have what you need to live, I am working to make sure that the same is true for all the other South African children.

That really hit home for me because instead of looking at spending more time with my family, I looked at using my time wisely toward massive structural goals which would have positive outcomes on the world population.

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This reminds me of something I once read of Ralph Nader:

Karen Croft, a writer who worked for Nader in the late 1970s at the Center for Study of Responsive Law, once asked him if he had ever considered getting married. She reports: "He said that at a certain point he had to decide whether to have a family or to have a career, that he couldn't have both. That's the kind of person he is. He couldn't have a wife—he's up all night reading the Congressional Record." [1]

There's a part of me that admires the sense of devotion to a personal vision or mission. I believe it's this unrelenting, screw-the-consequences, type of drive that create greatness.

At the same time, as a young single man in his 20s, I am still wrestling with my own personal choices and opinions on this matter.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader

I'm not sure what to glean from your comment. Do you already have a family? If not, you should consider not having one in the first place. Your would-be wife and children will be happier with someone who supports AND spends time with them.

That's obnoxiously presumptuous to start, and disregards many people's community oriented value system to finish.

Not every child is a spoiled brat who needs an umbilical cord pumping money and is only happy when partying.

Shame on you for not getting your priorities straight and putting your family first!

Not really. I am only saying this because I've seen you shaming someone in other thread and wanted to show you a first-hand example that shaming is bad for constructive discussions.

I'm not really sure you can compare developing software to display augmented reality CAD drawings on your iPad to the work Nelson Mandela was doing

Baby steps my friend.

It's somewhat shortsighted, however. What if, by showing compassion to your family / children, you inspired them to benefit the world? If you inspire three of your children to do what you would have done yourself, you potentially get 3x the output of world-saviness.

Slightly trolly, I know, but just being devil's advocate.

>> Slightly trolly

No. You are a FULL BLOWN "Concern Troll."

What if, by doing good work, s/he inspires them to join his effort?

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