(Update 11-14-2025) Warren Buffett Thanksgiving letter 11-10-2025 in PDF. You don’t have to be a BRK shareholder to benefit from it. He was talking about life in general, with his 95 years of life wisdom.
(Original 11-02-2025) 在美国，如果你对别人比较友好，一般来说我们的用nice 这个词 (google nice definition, note the AI overview): e.g., she has been nice to me. She is nice.
但是稍微再深入一下，其实我们真正想用的具体的词是considerate (google considerate definition). 或者说has empathy (恻隐之心)。Or try to put in other people’s shoes.
巴菲特说得更简单。他说：if you are lucky in life, try make other people’s life lucky too. 心理学里这个叫reciprocal, 你对我来说nice, 我也会对你nice。巴菲特说得更广义一些。
In my 28+ years stay in the USA, I think overall I received much more than what I gave. Simple ones such as people pushed my car during snow. Interviewer at Ingersoll in NJ saw me stuck in the conference room all day, offered to walk with me in the cafeteria so that I can stretch a bit.
Similar is applicable in China, I recall in my college days, the travel from college (Wuhan) to home (Ning’bo) then back, during the spring festival season is always rough. I wrote a Chinese blog post on it – I pasted the relevant section below.
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有一次在南昌转车，好像是南昌到北京的车（经过武汉）。不光没位置，而且连站的地方都没有。火车还在株洲还是武昌附近弄了很长时间的临时停车。记得当时一个武大还是华工科英的88级的女生给削了一个苹果，印象很深。在火车上基本上不想吃东西，也不怎么喝水。当时火车挤到什么程度？不知道80后，90后的同学有否体会？一个厕所里站了7个人，有个女孩想用洗手间，叫里面的男生出来一下，女生背对。结果没人响应，只能再挤一节车厢。
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Once on the way back to Wuhan, the train was extremely crowded: I could barely find space for standing. And I didn’t want to eat or drink for the fear of using restroom. I recall a girl went to the bathroom, there were 7 people there again because the train is so packed. She asked for guys to turn around, so that she could use the bathroom. I also vaguely recall she went through another carriage for bathroom. For me, my best memory of all this is a girl from Zhejiang province, I believe she was from Dong’yang, and she is a college student at Wuhan University, one year senior than me, and she gave me an apple with skin peeled. She doesn’t have to do this. But she has a lot empathy to say the least. Just recently I had opportunity to help a younger friend from Dong’yang, here in STL. I told the friend this apple story.
In Chinese, 中文讲解，不完全相同的内容，但是大意差不多，油管视频在这里。About 11 minutes long. 哔哩哔哩的链接在这里。
How far do we go in term of help others?
Note it’s more than 举手之劳 (jv shou zhi lao). I think in that case, we should take care of yourself 1st and say NO if applicable. But a lot of times it’s really quite simple, like things I mentioned in the video above. Giving smart. I recall 20 years ago, once I was in Shanghai, a bunch of kids (panhandlers) asked for money, being away from China for a while, I was not aware of the potential downside of giving money to one kid. Because as soon as I gave a coin to one boy, probably 5 or 6 boys also asked for money 🙁
PS:
I recall an Uber driving experience I had on 01-23-2025. And let me also copy/paste it here.
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A bit unusual Uber driving experiences this morning. I picked up the ride during my 1st trip. Just as I was going to pick up the passenger for this particular ride (2nd trip), the Uber platform told me the passenger doesn’t do text, via a medical (care) coordinator. I arrived the apartment, did call, text to the number given by the platform. No response. But just as I cancelled the trip, and ready to leave, I saw the passenger – an old woman with cane. She is going to the Mercy Hospital in Creve Coeur. The parking lot for the apartment is both icy and slippery, and I slipped, and almost fell. She said she was just locking her door. I said: okay I will take you. I drove her to the Mercy Hospital which I briefly worked for 18 months between 2013 and 2015. She said she didn’t eat breakfast – somehow, she reminded me of my grandma and my parents nowadays (as they are aging).
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