We Are What We Give

I believe that we are best defined by what we give, be it money, forgiveness, hope or the precious gift of our attention.

I was just talking with my 4 year old daughter about sponsoring a child in the developing world, and asked her which child on the website we should choose. Her answer was to pick them all of course, and she put every nickel in her rainbow bank where her mouth was.

Truly wonderful, the mind of a child. - Yoda.

No one has taught her what a zero sum game is yet, she just sees the need and wants to help. There’s so much to learn from my little padawan.

One of my most reality-fracturing moments was when I met someone who set annual goals based on how much he wanted to give instead of how much he wanted to earn. That's a deliciously existential exercise, you can't give it seven seconds without wrestling with some identity-forming constructs. Consider, for a moment if we oriented our lives that way. What effect would it have on the depth of our motivation, our clarity of purpose and our untamable desire for more?

Before pragmatism turns on the cold shower, allow yourself a moment to ask:

What if?