Recently, I was walking on Market Street behind two teenage girls. Just as I reached my destination, one girl asked the other, “Are you a giver or a taker?”
That question has been front and center in my mind since that day. As a matter of fact, I realized that I have encountered examples of each of these. Recently, while visiting my brother and sister-in-law in North Carolina, we were having lunch at a relatively new restaurant when a woman who had known me years ago came over to our table to say “hello.”
I was pleased that she remembered me, but I couldn’t help wondering if she still had the reputation of being a “taker.” For example, she never volunteered to help with a church or community project. She was never the one to pick up the check when having lunch with a friend and was never, ever the one to give a compliment to a friend who had accomplished something of note. There was no doubt about it, she was a “taker”, not a “giver.”
The very next day, however, I saw a vivid example of a “giver.” His name is Brian Davis, and he is one of the ministers on the staff of the church I attend. On the day of the incident, he didn’t think twice before giving.
He was coming out of the church as I was walking up the sidewalk toward my car. I was carrying a bottle of vitamins and the lid was obviously not fastened securely. When I held the bottle down at my side, the vitamins started falling out without my knowing it. Suddenly, Brian started running toward me, then dropped to his knees and began picking up the vitamins one by one. It was a beautiful example of a “giver” doing an act of kindness.
At home, as I wiped the individual vitamins clean and placed them in a new bottle, I thought that each of us should ask ourselves the question, “Am I a ‘giver’ or a ‘taker’?” If the answer is “taker,” we are going in the wrong direction.
Contact Nell Mohney at nellwmohney@com cast.net.