We are always asking kids what they
want to be when they grow up. I remember when my youngest son was young, he used to say,
“Curtis and I want to go to Colorado and be mountain men.” One time my
granddaughter told me that she wanted to be “Barbie” when she grew up.
I was watching a TV show several
weeks ago and grown-ups were saying what they wanted to be when they “grew up.”
One person said, “When I grow up, I want to give more than I get.”
Well, I never wanted to be Barbie
or a mountain man, but I certainly admire the idea of giving more than I get.
It’s only natural for us to look out for numero
uno. After all, we’re looking at the world through one set of eyes and from
one perspective. With our limited vision of the world around us some find it
easier to be selfish than to be selfless.
Does it do any good to measure what
others own to what we have? Coveting another’s possessions creates a miserable
existence. Those who have little might envy those who have more, or those who
have a lot might look down on people who have less.
Some people are innately generous,
for example a child who gives his or her favorite toy to a friend. More common
are the children who grab a coveted toy out of another child’s hands.
The odd thing is that often people
who are the most sharing are those who have the least. Maybe it isn’t so
strange after all. People who have accumulated a lot of wealth sometimes do so
by pinching each penny until it screams. They’ve worked hard for what they have,
and they don’t think anyone else deserves the fruit of their labor. Wealth can
be a prison of fear and anxiety.
I came from a home with two
hard-working parents who struggled to provide for a family with eight children.
We never had a lot, but Mom and Dad instilled into each of us that a person’s
worth was not tied to how many material possessions he had amassed.
Instead of telling us to go out
into the world and try to be rich, our parents guided us toward being
independent, hard-working adults who took satisfaction in being good people. We
were taught that we weren’t better than the less fortunate, and we weren’t less
than the wealthy. We were raised in a share and share alike environment, and it
has lasted each of us for a lifetime. There is not a selfish member in my
family!
One of the most generous people
I’ve known in my lifetime was Jim. He would not only give someone the shirt off
his back, he actually gave my brother the buttons off his uniform. He gave away
a priceless tater bug mandolin and a valuable Gibson guitar. I would say
throughout his life, he gave much more than he received. Greed wasn’t in his
vocabulary.
Although dementia greedily snatched
him away physically, he left an indelible impact on the lives he touched.
Throughout his life, a circle of family and friends surrounded him with love.
Jim was one of the people who gave
more than he got during his lifetime. No, he didn’t leave a monetary
inheritance. What he left was a richness of memories, stories, and love of
family. That is admirable in itself,
but I think even more important is that when he passed away, he left more than
he took.
Copyright © October 2016 by L.S.
Fisher
http://earlyonset.blogspot.com
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