What Gifts Are You Sharing with the World?

We live in a world where people are so judgmental, unloving and selfish. Their motivation for anything in life is fueled by greed, power and hunger for total domination or control of others. They only see what they want out of life and they go after it by any means necessary. They do so without any care for their fellow man. The pervading attitude is if someone is not paying their bills or giving them a job then they really don’t care about other people because it’s every man for himself. How sad, because these people must live a depressing and unhappy existence for they have no love in their heart for themselves or for others. They would see someone suffering, but because they feel it has nothing to do with them they could care less about that individuals suffering. Is the world we live in that cold, uncaring and unfeeling?

It is easy to feel sorry for the poor, starving children in Ethiopia or the women who are being beaten and raped in Darfur. You may even shed a tear or two at the injustices being suffered in the slums of India or in the favelas of Brazil. However, once the CNN report is over you turn off your television set and go about your life. Of course it is easy to care about people you do not know nor will ever know in your life. But is that really caring? Are you one of those people who go green to save the planet or purchase items that you know will offer a portion towards cancer research, yet you are blinded to the fact that your next door neighbour has a child who could use a tutor?

Blocking your mind and hearts to the sufferings of those close to you only serves to create a more colder and unfeeling existence for you. Is that the kind of life you desire to live or would you rather have an open and loving existence in this world? It is rather selfish to know that someone is experiencing a difficult time in their lives but you turn your back on that individual. Having empathy for others does not mean that you take on their problems and make it your own. What it does mean, is you feel and understand the person’s pain and by understanding and feeling the person’s pain it creates a more loving existence within you and you will act lovingly towards that individual. Sometimes that is all you need to do for someone who is going through a difficult time in their life. It does not matter if you know the person or not. Giving of yourself emotionally, physically and spiritually helps you in becoming a better human being.

Simply watching the rest of the world from afar and having sympathy, which is different from having empathy, and then going about your daily lives won’t help in creating change neither for you, your children nor for the rest of the world. While it may not be feasible to take on all the problems of the world, nor will it be healthy to do so, change can begin with you. What are your gifts, your talents? What do you care about? You do not like pain and suffering, so how would you go about alleviating the pain and suffering of others? Maybe you could volunteer at the local Community Center, or offer to tutor the younger children within your religious place of worship. Why not start a non-profit organization? Even if all of those things seem a huge task, you can start small. Is there a friend who has been going thru a difficult time in their lives recently? Why not call them up and chat for a bit even if it is for ten or fifteen minutes. It is important to make the phone call about them rather than about their jobs or their families. Everyone wants to feel special and that comes from knowing that someone genuinely cares for them. You may think that you care about someone, but if your behavior is really about what you think you should do rather than about what the individual requires, then you are not caring at all. Instead that is a round-about way of you being just about you.

Showing an act of kindness is often confused with the act of doing for others. However, showing kindness lasts for a moment while doing for others in other words having empathy for others is for a lifetime. Who do you want to be? Is being kind the only act you want to commit or do you want to do for others and have a more fulfilling life? Whenever you have done something that you are not proud of instead of beating up yourself over it, realize that you did not know what to do before, but now you have a better understanding. You must also realize that having empathy for yourself is essential if you are to develop empathy for others. Begin with a small act. So, what are your gifts that you are sharing with the world? The answer: YOU are the best gift that you can share with the world, but only you can decide what the substance of that gift will be.