2010: Living and Giving

After looking back on the idea of another decade gone, I find myself thinking about my life as an evening news special: Looking Back on the Aughts. And I'll admit that at first, I didn't realize how much time has actually gone by or how considerably life has changed. At the turn of the century, it seemed our world was such a simpler place. Whereas then we worried about what would happen when Y2K hit and what would happen to our money and our computers when the clock hit midnight, now we can't board an airplane without a full colonoscopy courtesy of airport security. And I still can't watch an airplane flying over magnificent New York City without thinking about whether or not I'll be a witness to another kamikaze assault on liberty and democracy.

In 1999 the frustration was waiting for your modem to dial up (or getting kicked off if your sister needed to make a phonecall) and now it seems we can't go the length of a conversation without checking our phones for missed calls, emails, facebook updates, youtube comments, myspace friends, SMS texts, BBMs, and firmware updates. Sure, since the invention of the television, the nuclear family has been glued to their screens, but only in the last decade have we gotten to the point where everyone feels the need to be not only in front of a television, but on it. Or at least to watch how others may live their own boring lives in the "reality" sense. (It can be comforting to see how little other people do with their time as well, but I do not believe in measuring myself by other people's lifestyles.) And sadly enough, I have fallen victim to this along with my fellow gen x'ers. I have found myself in a place where I am reaching out via video postings, photos, and status updates/tweets, etc. to get as many eyes on me as possible, disappointed when a status update doesn't get enough comments or "likes". And for what? To what end?

This realization has put me on a new path towards a new destination: living to give. I don't think the great writers of human history were simply providing stuffing for heavy leatherbound quotationaries for your dorm shelf when they were writing things like:

"Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others."
-- St. Augustine

"You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give."
-- Kahlil Gibran, philosopher

“Before giving, the mind of the giver is happy; while giving, the mind of the giver is made peaceful; and having given, the mind of the giver is uplifted.”
-- Buddha

"Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you invest, investigate. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try. Before you retire, save. Before you die, give."
-- William A. Ward {American Anthropologist

"Giving people a little more than they expect is a good way to get back more than you'd expect."
-- Robert Half

"It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving."
-- Mother Teresa

"To give is to love and to love is to live."
--Unknown

These are some of the greatest minds we know - the movers and shakers of the cerebral realm. At the age of 26, I have so much to be grateful for, and yet I so often find myself lamenting over something I can't seem to identify. And it is with all the conviction in the world that I say that this sadness is due to an exhausting search to receive rather than give. It may have taken longer than it should have to learn this, but alas, I have learned. And now, with two feet firmly planted in the will to give, I feel the smile that has been hiding, creeping back to my face. It is as if I already know how much happier I will be, and how much happiness I can bring to others.

So that being said, I encourage you to go out give of yourself.
Make someone laugh not to prove you're funny, but to lift his spirits.
Make someone smile not to appeal charming, but to bring them happiness.
Help someone out not to gloat that you did, but in hopes that it will encourage them to do the same for someone else.

There is no smile too big, no compliment too courteous, and no life lived with too much love.

Give. It is what we are supposed to do.

It's your life. Live it such that you'll love it.