Thank You and Be Better — An Open Letter to Elon Musk
Dear Mr. Musk,
I’d like to begin by thanking you. Thank you for helping a whole generation look to the stars and dream again. Thank you for your commitment to common sense and science. Thank you for producing morally conscious technologies. Thank you for your efforts in Puerto Rico, and now Flint. You have more than earned your reputation as the plucky, go-getting, Tony Stark-esque pioneer of industry the internet has come to portray you as.
Your story has been an inspiration to many young entrepreneurs, inventors, and other plucky go-getters, myself included. For this reason, I felt side-swiped by your recent twitter fight. I’m sure you are tired of getting your wrist slapped by now for your “pedo guy” comments. I’m not here to slap your wrist, though I hope you can admit it deserves a bit of slapping, and your apology suggests as much. Instead, I want to encourage you to learn from this, put it behind yourself, grow, and ultimately be better. Because we need you to be better.
We don’t need you to be a better engineer or businessman. I don’t drive a Tesla (sorry). And I don’t have any stock in any of your business ventures. What I do have is an unflappable investment in the moral integrity of our nation and the future generations that will carry that torch. I work on the front lines of a battle between raising a virtuous and honorable generation of young men and a destructive popular culture pushing them to become the opposite. What they need are heroes. Better men to emulate. Not the “saving lost kids” type of heroes, though they need those too. But “morally upright men with a compassionate worldview” type of heroes. Ones with power, and influence, and name recognition. I think you are one of them. I’d like for you to be one of them.
What they absolutely don’t need is another rich white man-child spouting inflammatory accusations on twitter. That market is dreadfully crowded.
No matter your intentions, people will say it is for publicity. People will criticize, and disrupt, and downplay attempts at generosity and compassionate giving. They will question it, no matter how genuine it is or it seems to be. They will scream ego or narcissism. Mostly because it is rare. The rarity of unconditional compassion, especially in business, makes it suspect to many. The rarity of these actions, your actions, is what makes them so immensely valuable. We, as a society, don’t have many one-percenters to look up to, let alone openly admire. Frankly, your success has placed you in poor company.
Don’t succumb to the pressures of your success. Be better so that we can be better.
Thank you,
Matthew Branch
CEO @youngmensnation
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Young Men’s Nation’s mission is to provide the most impactful, scalable and continuous character development experiences for young men so that they can achieve lasting peace of mind and professional fulfillment on their journeys to solving the most pressing issues of our time.
