A LESSON IN GIVING
“Each of us will one day be judged by our standard of life – not by our standard of living; by our measure of giving-not by our measure of wealth; by our simple goodness-not by our seeming greatness.”
William Arthur Ward
When I was traveling several weeks ago, my friend and I took a very late night shuttle from the airport to the hotel to pick up my car. As we arrived in the parking lot, I happened to look down on the floor of the shuttle and discovered three wadded up $20 bills. Since I thought they belonged to my friend when she took money out to tip the driver, I did not say anything until we were in the car headed home. When she went into her purse, she found they were not hers.
The next day I called the hotel, explained the situation, and asked if anyone had reported money missing. Then I waited several days, and when I did not hear anything, I began to think about what to do with that money that would benefit someone else since it did not feel right to simply keep it myself.
I have been trying to teach my little grandchildren, ages 7 and 10, about giving, so several years ago as part of their Christmas present, I adopted a child in Haiti in each of their names. I chose a child of the same sex with some of the same interests so that they could write back and forth and share small gifts with them. When Gavin, age 7 at the time, got the first letter from his new friend telling him that they did not have running water or electricity, his horrified comment was, “You mean they don’t have X-Box?” It has been a wonderful learning experience as they have begun to realize how people in other parts of the world live, and they have made friends with someone from an entirely different culture.
In the middle of the night last week an idea occurred to me about a special way to use the money. I decided to send $20 to both Gavin and Kinsey with a letter asking them to use this money in any way they chose to HELP SOMEONE ELSE. I explained to them about finding the money, and all I asked from them was to have fun thinking of different ways they could help and then to write me a letter to tell me what they did with the money. (I also included a five dollar bill for them to put into their own savings account, just because I am that kind of Grandma! 😉 My thought is that if they really get into this, I will do it with them several times a year.
“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Then I decided to give the other $20 bill to my assistant, Tara, who has had some rough times financially this past few months. When I explained where the money came from and what I had done with my grandchildren, she decided to do the same thing with her two little boys, ages 3 and 5. She is going to give them each $10 to help someone.
Isn’t it interesting how even though someone lost some money, that same money has been magnified to help many other people through the JOY OF GIVING!
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.”
John Wesley
For more ideas of ways to brighten other’s days, go to www.barbaraglanz.com/ideas
