The "Art of Giving"

Almost everyone has contributed something to “Make A Difference” within the community and world that all of us are a part of. This contribution can be in the form of money, time, expertise or support. The contribution could be substantial, given willingly or a small amount or grudgingly given out due to indirect coercion. People contribute money directly to charity, NGO’s and to religious trusts who are involved in social work. Many people also put in selfless service in terms of personal time at old age homes, orphanages, volunteer NGO work or in some other personal way for eg. teaching someone free within the community etc. If one extends this slightly further, even the efforts taken to provide inputs to others without any financial gain can also be included in this definition. Today’s article focuses on the “Art of Giving” and how we could make this effort more effective.

To begin with, we need to answer the question “Why should we give?”. To most folks the answer is obvious & they give as a way to contribute back altruistically to society in their own way. They feel that they have been fortunate & prefer to share with others who are less fortunate. Others might give as a way to accumulate good deeds & maybe negate bad deeds. Some others also do it to ensure that they get due recognition for their contribution. Lastly others also do it due to social coercion. Whatever the motivation for giving, it still serves to add value to others directly or indirectly. The best way to give is obviously where one does not seek credit for one’s contribution or expect to be rewarded or recognized for the same. This act then is truly altruistic in nature & defines the concept of the “Art of Giving”.

As a personal perspective I would like to add another key concept here. In my opinion it is better to have a consistent & recurring contribution rather than something which is one time or random. After all even if the latter does help in their own way, it also has some other downsides. As a recipient, one will benefit more if this contribution is received consistently when required or in the required quantity when needed. Taking the analogy of watering a plant, one can understand this better. A plant will always be better off when a small amount of water is available every day over a period of time, versus a large amount of water poured just once. Even if we assume that different people are pouring water every day, the inconsistency might itself contribute to the drying up of the plant, which no amount of water poured subsequently helps. I would therefore recommend that aim for sustained contribution in whatever you plan to contribute which forms another key attribute of the “Art of Giving”.

Lastly another related concept to this central theme is a sense of gratitude for what we ourselves receive from others. Knowingly & unknowingly we ourselves benefit from a lot of things which come our way due to the efforts put in by others. Many of these things might involve a financial transaction or we might reciprocate back in other ways. But there will always be some things that we benefit from the altruistic efforts put in by others. We might or might not be seeking these altruistic actions for our benefit, but nevertheless gain from them. A sense of gratitude for what we have received equips us better to make our own altruistic contributions, whether these are big or small, material or effort related.

How do you plan to implement these concepts of the “Art of Giving” in your own contributions?