Musing

[written and published from Calgary]


-14C/7F, overcast, snow overnight, more flakes falling . . Gusta hyper-charged this morning for some reason . .

I find it interesting these days to see press coverage of giving; I mean Bill Gates ‘give it all away in my lifetime’ type of giving (even if he fails he will have a few billion left which is a few billion more than me)

is that more important than a father giving time to his child, one woman helping another, any of us spending time with a treasured parent or grandparent?

or spending time to lend a hand to someone stubborn and unwilling to accept our help . .

or someone we don't know who will never know us

or someone who will never know the gift of time you gave because it was given in some other way

or

we could just let our time run out

this is not about scheduling, it is about values

why give?

for many, giving produces getting which makes everybody feel good - right?

but if it does, is that a good reason?

when we give somebody something – a piece of something, a piece of our mind, a piece of ourselves there is no rule that says ‘this is what we get in return’; giving is about giving, not about getting

giving some little thing – a gesture, a kind word, a small gift, a lead, an opportunity, an introduction – these are all easy to give, cost little effort; they pay huge dividends in many ways but that is not why we should go them; giving time – now we’re talking

giving more, giving money – seems so much more because commas and zeroes are involved, but most people give because they can with a mixture of motives as to why they give

but when we consider giving some of our time to someone, some cause, some need – that is serious effort; again those efforts pay huge dividends in many ways but that is not why we should go them

gifts that don’t pinch us for time, effort, money or thinking are easy; to be gracious giving a smile, a hello, a short ‘so, tell me, how are doing?’ chat, giving away something we don’t need or that is worn out . . that is all so easy

giving understanding – now that’s a little tougher; a heightened level of giving

higher still is giving some caring to go with that understanding

even higher, is caring about the person to whom we are giving our caring and understanding

it does not matter if they never give it back

really, it doesn’t . . .

it matters that you gave it

every time I’ve given time I’ve not regretted it

sometimes time helps the person I’ve given it to, some times not

every time I’ve given time it helped me

every time

every

time

Mark Kolke
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