Culture of Giving

My initial inspiration for this post began with Stanford Blood Center’s annual Precious Mettle event. It is an event where speakers offer stories about their experiences as donors or recipients in order to encourage donors to continue to donate and to thank them for their continued support as blood donors.

This is important. Especially considering that of the 38% of Americans eligible to donate, only 10% of that 38% actually donate. So, we are a valued commodity. More on donating blood in a future posting.

Subsequent inspiration is coming from a Netflix series on Medal of Honor recipients. I watched the first four stories as my way of remembering our military veterans on Veteran’s Day. What I learned about these heroes is that their stories were similar in one very important way. They cared more about others and their wellbeing than they cared about themselves.

Sgt. Sylvester Antolak (WW 2), Sgt. Edward Carter (WW 2), Sgt. Clinton Romesha (rome-eh-shay, Afghanistan) and Sgt. Hiroshi Miyamura (Korea) are not exactly household names. Nor would they or any of the 3500+ men and women who have received the Medal of Honor want to be household names.

In their minds they were helping their mates and in so doing their duty, they performed acts of courage and bravery that earned them the attention of grateful comrades and their country . They put their comrades and friends before themselves in extraordinary ways in military combat situations. These stories have been so moving that I decided to post my thoughts on what I call the culture of giving.

The Culture of Giving can take countless forms. For example, to donate blood a person must often overcome a fear of needles. They do it because like the Medal of Honor heroes, they are willing to overcome their own personal fear in order to help someone else. Someone else that they likely will never meet. But they do it because they have been taught that being of service to others is the greatest goal in life.

First responders, doctors, nurses, health care workers of all kinds, elder care workers immediately come to mind as people who most obviously share this Culture of Giving. Teachers come to mind as well. In fact I would say that we are all come into this world with this characteristic.

Psychologists and counselors correct me if I’m wrong, but all people are born good. It’s our nature. Simply by the act of being born, we default to the Culture of Giving. When faced with the opportunity to help out in a difficult situation, we instantly start asking what can I do to help. Then we act on that impulse and help those in need or danger.

But it seems that the process of living or our “Nurture” has an affect on this giving culture. It can be taken out of us. The different human nurturing experiences that each of us grows up in has an impact on how we feel about giving later in life.

Let me take myself as an example using the Culture of Giving idea. I can honestly say that giving for me is a way of life. The things that I do are done out of a sense of mission that I started learning as a child at home, at church and at school. I simply don’t know any other way to be. It took me awhile, but I found my life’s work as a middle school teacher. I volunteer with my church choir because I am a singer. I donate blood platelets because it is another way that I can give. I ride my bicycle and practice yoga so that I am physically and mentally prepared to give the most that I can.

I view all things that I do, the teaching, the donating of blood, the singing, the cycling, the serving on the church board, the writing of get out the vote letters for the recently completed election and anything else that I have the privilege to do as merely another opportunity to give back to my communities and my planet.

This is what I call the Culture of Giving. This is the time of year when Americans lift up giving in the form of “Thanksgiving.” Giving, of course, is not limited to one day of the year. It comes out of a deeper, internalized Culture of Giving which I mindfully adhere to with a loving sense of thanks and giving every day.

Happy Thanksgiving and may you be aware of the Culture of Giving around you.