How do we give thanks?
Prompted by the upcoming Thanksgiving season, I wanted to talk about how to give thanks. So, how do we give thanks? By sharing with others. This is the most important part of Thanksgiving: getting together with family, making food, and sharing food and reflections with each other. However, sharing can extend beyond the family dining room, into the community.
When an individual is given food, shelter, and security, it becomes possible to be a contributing member to society. This kind of sharing directly helps raise people out of poverty. Habitat for Humanity aims to build houses for people that cannot afford them, providing shelter. Groups like Emergency Food Shelf provide food to those than cannot afford it. With shelter and food provided for, a sense of security can take place.
When an individual spends all of their time working to secure food and shelter, they have no time for education, reflection, or helping others. By working to eliminate poverty and homelessness, it directly contributes to education by making time for children to attend school and adults to pass on their knowledge to a younger generation. This is the root of the problem with global poverty, the “haves and the have nots.” Within my generation, there is a lot of talk about “changing the world”, as there has been within young people of every generation. This stems from a deconstructionist attitude, and has been exacerbated by the hyper/radical individualism that is rampant in America. Day after day, young men and women drive their cars to work or school, sit in a office or classroom, then go home and wonder why the world is such a messed up place. There is too much focus on the global problems of the world, and not enough “thinking local.”
My challenge to all those young men and women that want to help the world is simple: Get involved! Talk is cheap, and you can talk and sit on your hands all day long, without helping anyone. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity or Peace Corps. Donate food to your local food shelf. Find a local non-profit that helps serve the goals of food, shelter, and security for people within your community. As the health of your community increases, so will it’s strength. Encourage people to find their potential to share with others and “pay it forward.” If we do not help each other at the lowest levels, it will be impossible to change the world we live in.
There is extreme selfishness in the world and it must be challenged by sharing, without expecting anything except a sense of accomplishment in return. Do not expect others to be supportive or grateful for you sharing, because praise-seeking is just a form of addiction. If you heart is happy when you share, then it is simply the right thing to do. Lastly, when someone makes fun of you for doing good, remember that is only their way of not looking inside themselves.
May all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving that is full of sharing and love.
Comments
Leave a Reply