Thankfulness and Generosity Change the World
My family completed our holiday tradition this past weekend. We gathered as a group and gave back by handing out Thanksgiving Meal kits at a local charity. We then broke bread as a family celebrating relationships and then headed to the grocery store to check the items off a secret Santa list.
Here is why you should care and not roll your eyes.
Giving makes you feel good. To hear a sixteen-year-old young man joyful wish strangers a happy thanksgiving or my elementary school daughters scream happy thanksgiving in unison at every car brought smiles to faces both of those receiving the blessing and those providing the help. It’s not easy to ignore the good vibes of being generous. Kindess spreads just as fast as negativity, just try it.
Generosity is learned in the home. My kids have experienced this for many years. The first years it was my mom, sisters, my wife, and our four kids. This year it grew to include all those mentioned plus my sisters’ husbands and my five nieces and nephews. We were so big our family photo includes random people who thought it was a group photo for everyone involved. Because of the repetition generosity for our group is normal, not a burden. So we find opportunities to be generous on the regular. It felt weird at first but now it seems odd not to be generous. Start learning generosity now, lean into the discomfort, because the person in need has physical and emotional discomfort much greater than your shyness.
People are in real need. To witness someone overjoyed about receiving a can of coffee because they ran out and couldn’t afford any was humbling. But also a stark reminder that if you only stay in the comfort of your bubble it is easy to ignore the reality that so many live in because this lady isn’t one of my social media friends. If you aren’t out amongst the world you miss so much of what is actually going on.
Technology is both a tool and a divider. The first few years before everyone had a smart phone this was an opportunity to engage in conversation and share empathy and love. This year most folks didn’t look up from their phones for long so the connection wasn’t made and empathy remained on the sideline. Please make sure you keep technology in its proper place. The people need human connection just as much as they need having their physical needs met.
This isn’t a story about my family it’s a story about our society. We can agree to disagree about why economic disparity exists or what the solutions are, but we can’t continue to pretend it’s someone else’s job to make the world a better place. We must all choose to believe we have an obligation to make the world (or at least someone’s world) better than we found it. Being involved in generosity and being empathetic to the needs of others is a great way to change a world that we can all agree is broken.
Conclusion
If you are reading this you have enough wealth to help another person. I promise. Please consider helping out in your community, it will change the world for the better.