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Today's
quotation:
As to the kindness you mention, I wish I
could have been of more service to you
than I have been,
but if I had, the only thanks that I should desire are
that you would always be ready to serve any other person
that may need your assistance, and so let good offices go
around, for humankind are all of a family. As for my own
part,
when I am employed in serving others I do not look
upon myself as conferring favors but paying debts.
Benjamin Franklin
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Today's
Meditation:
Wow--what
kind of a world would this be if everyone were to adopt
this perspective? What would it be like if everyone
were to recognize that we all have debts to pay for all
that we have in life, and that we can spend our lives
paying those debts by helping out other people who are in
our lives?
I
don't believe that Franklin ever found himself staggering
under the burden of those debts, as happens so often when
people have to deal with financial debts. I believe
that he saw them as a normal part of life that he could
deal with quite easily, on a day-to-day basis. After
all, the major difference with this kind of debt is that
there is no debtor waiting there, ready to take away
everything if we don't pay back what we owe. And if
we go a week, a month, or a year without paying back
anything at all, we won't face any consequences of
significance.
But
the debt is very real. So many people have
contributed to our lives that we never will have even a
glimpse of the extent to which others have served us, over
and over again. When we get into our cars, we can be
thankful not just to the people who built them, but to the
people who developed internal combustion engines, safe
all-weather tires, windshield wipers, heaters, and much
more. Plus, we can remember that those things were
possible only because someone developed a way to process
oil into gasoline. And all of those people were
inspired by previous inventions and products, developed by
other people, who in turn. . . .
"The
only thanks that I should desire. . . ." Can we
be that way? Can we truly let go of our desire to be
thanked and appreciated? Can we allow ourselves to
be content with the knowledge that we've done something to
pay off our debt? It is possible--many people live
life this way, and it seems that they live quite
happily. What would it take for me to be able to do
it? Why, a simple decision to do so, and a
dedication to doing so once I decide.
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| Questions to
consider:
Is it easy to pay back debts that we don't have
to pay back if we don't want to?
How can we get an idea of just what kind of debts we
owe?
Would this kind of attitude towards life benefit
us? Would it benefit others? If the answer is
"yes," then why aren't we living this way? |
