Carrying Your Part

The expression “pay yourself first” has been around for a long time. It’s the concept of taking money out of your income and putting it into savings before you have the chance to spend your extra cash on things you might not need. I absolutely believe in this concept, but there are times when it does not apply. Just passing Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) we are fast approaching cold weather, especially if you’re from the Northern parts like me. We just had our first snow fall late last week and it made me think about how terribly cold it was about to be. Hearing all the crazy stories about moms and dads knocking each other out over a transformer action figure on Black Friday really made me think about culturally where we stand as a people. The holidays should be about togetherness, spending time as a family and with friends or people that you care about. In that spirit, I have a story for you about giving and how important it is not only during this time of year, but all year round.

My Junior and Senior year of high school I was on the crew team. Crew is the sport that you see nine people crammed single file into one of those long skinny boats. Every day at practice, we’d have to carry the shells (boats) to the water from the boat house. I remember one specific time towards the beginning of the season that made a huge impact on me. It was an epiphany like none other I’d ever had. There we were 8 newbie rowers heaving this gigantic shell upside down, up over our heads to carry it to the water. It was an older boat, and was made out of heavier materials than ones constructed more recently. It most definitely weighed in excess of 250 pounds. I was in the very back of the line, holding the end of the boat so that I had a great view of this catastrophe waiting to happen. We slowly began walking towards the water. Step by step, as we got closer I looked forward to see that just ONE of the rowers had their hands down by their sides, were they tired? I don’t know but you know what they say about being as strong as the weakest link. With each step, the front of the boat slowly started to tilt downward. One by one, elbows started to bend and lower and lower the boat went. Another rower, unable to bear the increased weight of the boat let go. Again more weight was divided among even less rowers. Before I knew it, the boat was a couple feet off the ground and tilting right. The boat flipped over, and fell fast. With just inches to the ground the coaches made it over and grabbed the other side of the shell before it hit the ground. We set the boat down on the ground and stepped back.

Why did that first rower let go? Did he not care or was he genuinely in pain and out of strength?

It hit me like a ton of bricks. This story can be applied directly to giving. Clothing, food, time, money and anything you can think of. Every little bit of giving helps, and contributes to a greater good. When everybody does their part, the weight of the shell is less for everyone. Gnome sayin’? If you don’t have material things or extra money, give the gift of time. Time is just as valuable if not more so as money or things. You can get money with time, but you can’t buy time back with money.

I am a big advocate of direct giving. Find a kid that needs a jacket for the winter season or donate to Coats for Kids. Get in touch with a local soup kitchen and volunteer your time. Donate blood to the Red Cross! I admit that I have not been doing these kinds of things nearly as much as I should be, and I intend to do so more starting today. I hope you find the story helpful in seeing holiday giving in a slightly different light.

Take care, and I wish you all a happy holidays.