The Joy of Giving

Some years back, I was fortunate enough to meet an Italian missionary and his wife. They led an extremely simple life in a small rented brick house that they shared with another missionary couple from Jamaica. One day, over a cup of coffee in their house, I gathered enough courage to ask the Italian couple why they chose such a life in Africa over the comforts of Europe, and their answer was plain simple: “the joy of giving.”

Apparently, Roberto had been a computer programmer and his wife a school teacher. They had given up their noble professions and sold all their material possessions before flying to Africa, with Kenya as their first destination. Their mission was to spread the gospel of Christ and alleviate human suffering by starting small income generating projects for poor families. I was young then, and my preoccupation was scheming how to get rich day and night, and so you can imagine my disappointment that somebody was so happy being poor by choice, because Roberto and his wife barely owned anything! Years later, I have come to fully appreciate and comprehend the joy of giving.

It goes that when you give and assure a fellow human being of a dignified existence, the peace you feel in your heart is insurmountable. It’s nothing like you’ve ever felt before, seeing the reassuring smile of a helpless child who knows that her next meal is guaranteed for. It’s a good feeling that I suggest every human being ought to experience before they die.

When you’re a witness to a situation in obvious need of help that you can afford but decide to ignore, then you become a prisoner of conscience and I tell you there is no jail like a guilty conscience. You don’t need to have much for you to give— if all of us, with the little that we have, could stretch a hand of charity, you would be amazed at the millions of broken hearts of sorrow and the rivers of tears we could stop. And there is a misconception that giving is all about money. I put it to you that some people, for instance the elderly and terminally ill, can do without your money—a little bit of your time and company is all they mostly need to feel valued and human.

It’s common knowledge that into the world you brought nothing, and out of the world you can take nothing. And this is why it makes a lot of sense to give away that which we don’t need, because it’s plain to see that we shall lose everything anyway when our respective lives have run their full courses. Too much of anything becomes good for nothing, ultimately.

If you’ve never given, then you’re yet to experience the real joy. Why not go out this weekend and give a helping hand to someone in need and see how it feels?