The Privilege of Giving

@postaday 315; #postaday2011.

I always jump at the chance to assist with the annual food drive at Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA) to benefit the Hawaii Foodbank. It gives me a chance to meet and greet my colleagues who work in different departments, and it gives me an opportunity to be awash in the generosity of others. I help Katy Meza, who organizes the company-wide effort, with the receiving, weighing, and stacking of impressive amounts of non-perishable food items. The drive is a friendly competition among departments, and the winning department gets a prize, on top of the warm fuzzy that naturally occurs. Just a few minutes ago my colleague Lisa C. kicked off the drive with her donation of a 20-pound bag of Hinode Calrose rice. The gauntlet has been thrown!

Giving is a privilege. The feeling you get from taking care of someone else is immeasurable, and it’s a feeling you probably would want to linger. Imagine if your addiction was helping others! Imagine if you enjoyed looking out for others as much as you liked that feeling you get after an exercise session!You’d give more, wouldn’t you?

Now imagine what it must be like to be on the receiving end of a Hawaii Foodbank donation. It must be a very humbling experience to swallow one’s pride and request assistance for yourself and  your family. Let’s bless these people. How close are many of us to that situation? A couple of paychecks?

Those of us with jobs, who scrimp here and there to make ends meet, and have healthy and intact families, can always manage to make a donation to assist others with less.

Over the next few weeks, I’m looking forward to seeing how generous my colleagues on board The Mothership are. Each year they find a way to give more.