What’s In It For Me?
Imagine the whole world goes blind, and the richest person in the world could afford an eye.
Wow! The first person in the world to see again.
This rich fellow happens to be visiting and you ask him a favor to read a letter from your mother. To your surprise, he responds that he doesn’t do charity!
However, it is not possible that a person can appreciate sight if he keeps that gift all to himself.
Let me explain.
For the blind person it’s obvious how valuable sight is. For the rich (sighted) person he can’t appreciate it because he has become used to it, all he knows is that others want it.
Similarly, we don’t appreciate what we have because we all have it. For example, if you were the only person you knew with a car you would feel great having one. And that sense of value and fortune would grow every time you gave someone a ride and helped them out. And of course, the more the person needed the ride, the better you felt about yourself.
The reason we don’t feel blessed having a car is we don’t know people who need a lift, so we become used to it and fail to notice the wonderful gift we have.
For example, in Israel car ownership is not universal, and hitchhiking is fairly common. Therefore the people who have cars feel an immense degree of satisfaction because every time they give someone a ride they are reminded of their own good fortune.
When we take what we have been given and use those things to help people who have less than us, it profoundly awakens us to the gifts we have. We then realize how valuable and fortunate our lives are.
The more we share what we have, the more we value what we get.
If you have benefited from the lessons you have gained here, you will enjoy them even more if you share that feeling.
Please take a moment to give a little so we can give a lot, to so many others. Click on the cup of coffee, it’s for you.
Thank you!
Rabbi Stephen Baars 