英神秘富翁每天1000英鎊發路人讓其做善事

Meet the businessman who hands out ￡1,000 to complete strangers

中國日報網 2012-07-10 08:49

The charming Noelia who was given the ￡1000 after Mr Lucky saw her do a good deed.

How would you react if you were approached on the street and handed an envelope filled with money? No seeming rhyme nor reason.

"You are lucky," you are told. But with this luck comes a responsibility: that you promise to do something good with it.

An anonymous millionaire is currently putting people to the test by handing out ￡1,000 to those he randomly encounters. The Sunday Telegraph spent the day with him whilst he paced the streets of London hunting for 10 lucky recipients.

The reactions were varied, from the stunned to the suspicious to the simply delighted.

He has given away close to ￡100,000 to people he has met around the world. He hands those that he chooses a sleek card explaining his project and allows them 48 hours to get in touch. Sometimes he adds in a treasure hunt for extra entertainment and leaves the invites hidden in bookshops or landmarks and sends clues out from his Twitter account.

‘Mr Lucky’ is from London, in his late thirties, with dishevelled hair and appeared wearing rolled-up jeans, high-top trainers and with a camera slung around his neck. He earned his fortune working for an insurance company abroad and resigned last year having realised he had more money than he knew what to do with.

"I booked myself a flight into space, I thought I’d fulfil that childhood dream. Then I told my friends and when the conversation changed, as it inevitably does, to what they would do if they had that amount of money I felt embarrassed.

"Their ideas were much more generous, interesting and responsible than mine."

After cancelling his space flight and struggling to choose a worthy cause for his cash, he decided to set up the WeAreLucky project.

"I didn’t want to just pass on my luck, I also wanted to share the responsibility. I decided to give away ￡1,000 every day. All I'd ask is that they'd do something positive with the cash. I’d take their picture and ask them to fill a brief questionnaire with their hopes and intentions for the money."

But is handing over the responsibility to others, really the responsible thing to do? How does he know the money will be put to good use? "I don’t," he shrugged. "I leave it to them. I’m not going to judge or start checking up on them. Sometimes you have to just believe in people," he said with almost child-like enthusiasm.

(Read by Rosie Tuck. Rosie Tuck is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

點擊查看更多雙語新聞

(Agencies)

若你走在大街上，有陌生人莫名其妙地湊過來遞給你一個裝著錢的信封，你會作何反應？

“你是幸運兒，”那人這樣告訴你。但與這份幸運隨之而來的還有一份責任：你要承諾用這些錢做些善事。

英國一位不愿透露姓名的富翁正在當街考驗人們，將1000英鎊送給他隨機碰到的人。英國《星期日電訊報》用一天時間對他貼身采訪，見證了他如何在倫敦的大街小巷尋找10名幸運“中獎者”。

面對“飛來橫財”，人們的反應或驚訝、或疑惑、或欣喜。

這位富翁已向他在世界各地遇到的人們送出將近10萬英鎊。選中目標后，他會交給對方一張精美卡片，上面解釋了他的項目，并要求對方在48小時內與他聯系。有時為了讓項目變得更加有趣，他不把錢直接給對方，而是采用“尋寶游戲”的手法，將卡片藏在書店里或地標處，然后用他的推特賬戶向“幸運兒”發送“尋寶”提示，讓對方去找。

“幸運先生”來自倫敦，年齡在35歲至40歲之間，頭發亂蓬蓬，常穿著褲管卷起的牛仔褲和高幫運動鞋，脖子上掛著部相機。他先前在國外一家保險公司工作，掙了大錢，去年辭職后，突然發現自己擁有的錢多得自己都不知道怎么花才好。

“我預定了一次太空旅游，我本來想用這些錢實現兒時的夢想。然后我把這件事告訴了朋友們，聊著聊著，很自然地聊到他們如果有這么多錢，會干些什么。他們讓我覺得很汗顏。”

“他們的想法遠比我的更慷慨、更有趣、更富責任感。”

那次聊天后，“幸運先生”取消了太空旅游，盡心為他的錢選擇了一項崇高事業，并決定設立“我們走運”項目。

“我想要的不只是傳遞我的幸運，還要跟大家分享責任。我決定每天派發1000英鎊。我所要求的全部就是得到錢的人必須用它做些積極的事。我會給他們拍照，讓他們填一個簡單問卷，以了解他們的愿望和對這筆錢的打算。”

但將責任傳遞給別人真的是負責任的做法嗎？這位“幸運先生”又如何得知得到錢的人的確用它做了善事？“我無從得知，”他聳聳肩說，“我只是把錢留給他們看著辦。我不會去評判或是開始檢查他們對這筆錢的用途。有時你只需去相信別人。”說這話時他帶著孩童般的熱忱。