"Hey, they're just gathering dust in the shed," I said when he replied that he should not take them.
I knew landscaping and lawn work was slow in the wintertime and that his wife had recently been laid off.
"It's great if you can use them in your business," I remarked, knowing that he had recently started a part-time lawn care and landscaping service in our Beaverton neighborhood and knew he could make good use of the combination brush cutter and lawn edger.
I could tell how grateful he was for the tools, though I do not believe he really understood how glad I was to find a good landscaper who worked for reasonable fees. In addition, he certainly did not understand the amount of "stuff" that a man almost twice his age can accumulate as the years "clutter" by (or is that roll). Joyce and I were glad to get rid of that "stuff," and took great pleasure in knowing that someone actually had a use for the equipment.
This small incident brought to mind the wise seers that I had read over the years regarding prosperity and giving. Though there is a great body of literature on the subject ranging from the wisdom of the Golden Rule to treat others as we wish to be treated and the Biblical injunction to tithe our income, I started remembering Kahlil Gibran who wrote The Prophet and other volumes of exquisite prose and poetry in the earlier part of the last century.
Gibran (1883-1931) considered a prophet in his own right in Lebanon where he was born and in much of the Near East, lived the last twenty years of his life in the United States, mainly around New York City. Though there is an endless well of wisdom in his writings, I found myself remembering the chapter in The Prophet called "On Giving."
Gibran's literary device is somewhat Socratic: Various citizens of the city of Orphalese seek advice and wisdom of their beloved and wise prophet, Almustafa, as he prepares to leave their city and return to the island of his birth. It is the "Rich Man" who asks that the Prophet to "Speak to Us of Giving." The Prophet replies:
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Thomas James Martin's Care of the Soul topic, please visit the Discussions page.