I don’t regret the path I took in my career but there was a time, a time a long time ago, where I worked for the love of what I did and not for the money. That was back when I dreamed of being a novelist or even a song writer. Sixteen years working in the financial industry brought money to the forefront of my consciousness as it did for a lot of people who lived through the boom boom times.
I was speaking with a shopkeeper the other day to ask them to put up a sign in their front window and for a donation for the kid’s event. I said I will give you a letter that you can use for taxes. The woman looked at me, and said, “I don’t do it for that, I am doing it for the kids.” I went by a friend’s shop to get a bottle of wine and the woman behind the counter said you get the friend’s discount don’t you?, and I said well I don’t deserve it because I have severely cut back my spending on wine and the like, and she said, “You aren’t getting the discount because of your business you are getting it on account of you being her friend.” A friend who recently left her job said she was headed over to the association’s office down the street to volunteer to teach kids about the industry she had covered for decades. She said she has been wanting to do this for years.
Giving back is something you do when you have received a bounty in your life. Accepting gifts is something that requires opening your mind and heart. They are both part of the same spin.
So true. I find it’s far easier for me to give something than to receive it…something I’m working on.