generosity

As the end of 2010 rolls around taking the time to reflect on the year, your beliefs and values, can perhaps, help the move forward in 2011. It is important that the behaviors we manifest represent the beliefs and values that we have. C4K values generosity. For many people, generosity means being willing to give money, but a generosity of spirit is the ability to give or be ready to give freely, with no thought of return or profit, the very best of oneself. Generosity of spirit also means to be free from meanness and prejudice. This sort of attitude gives others permission to be grateful for what they have, but also to become willing to share.

There is a Proverb that likens the lack of generosity to a blacksmith’s bellows. The Proverb opines, “He who allows his day to pass by without practicing generosity and enjoying life’s pleasures is like a blacksmith’s bellows. He breathes, but does not live.” Generosity is not just about someone else enjoying or benefiting from something, it is about the reciprocation that happens between people when each person is giving of the best of themselves and the other person is receiving what is given with a full heart.

6,000 years of recorded history has been focused on finite resources and convincing people that only a few can control and have power over these finite resources. As we move into the Knowledge Worker Age, this attitude of scarcity is being replaced with one of plenty, the belief that we can all have access to all of the knowledge in the world and that our ability to work with that knowledge is what is important.

Be generous of spirit with the students in your program. Work with them to empower them to become all they can be. Two additional quotes follow:

"Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present." Albert Camus

"He who allows his day to pass by without practicing generosity and enjoying life's pleasures is like a blacksmith's bellows. He breathes, but does not live." Proverb

"Be generous but not extravagant, be frugal but not miserly" Imam Ali