~"Giving" can be a Team Effort and Reap Big Rewards.~

Read Back to the Mississippi now before reading this HUB.

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Let's go back to the Mississippi River again to discover if any giving was involved in our successful enterprise. When the boot drifted up on the riverbank, you made your first leap into the world of business as you scooped it up. You could have let it gone on down the river and continued to fish, but for that particular moment in your life, you chose a more worthwhile activity.

Your first thought was that you might be able to use the boot for yourself. You hoped that another would drift along soon. You didn't feel this was likely to happen, so you obtained a number of items drifting down the river and eventually traded these in for an old rowboat.

You didn't know it yet, but you had engaged yourself in more meaningful activity, and this alone made you a giver. You could have easily chosen to continue fishing, but you elected to give your time and efforts for a more worthwhile purpose. Eventually, you and your team decided to make the riverbank more attractive and turned it into a recreation area which benefited many others. This was not really necessary but seemed more worthwhile in passing the long hours than just fishing or basking in the warm sun.

Share the Wealth with Others

You were also a giver because you shared your profitable enterprise with your team members. Any wealth that was eventually created was to be shared equally. You could have used your charm and wit to get your friends to work for you and then could have grabbed up all the wealth for yourself when the treasure boat was obtained. Instead, you were a giver who shared a common goal with your team and freely cleaned up an environment so that everyone around could reap the benefits.

The fact that you earned a profit from all this activity concerned no one else. Without your endeavor, the environment would have remained uninhabitable, customers would not have been able to cross the river, and picnics on the riverbank would not have been possible.

“Giving,” then, you might say, is to become engaged in meaningful, profitable activities. Every person has the ability to sit under a tree and fish while the rest of the world engulfs itself in meaningful activity. Of course others will have to provide your food, shelter and clothing; but that's their choice too, isn't it? Giving, of course, doesn't necessarily result in profitable activity, but it is always meaningful. Meaningful activity almost always results in profits for the giver, whether he knows it or not.

Working with the Handicapped

At a school where I work with handicapped children, volunteers are always in the building giving their time and love without any thought of receiving anything in return. Many staff members, including myself, make every possible attempt to assist these wonderful people in achieving their goals.

Most often these people are looking for work. If the qualities for being a good worker are there, we have a first-hand look at these qualities and often hire such a volunteer. I obtained a housekeeper this way.

The magic of giving is everywhere.

When you become involved in the world around you and freely give of your time and energies, it is a law of Nature that you will be provided with your needs.

It is the human spirit of loving and caring that ensures that every person involved in meaningful activity will be provided for. Probably the greatest sin is not to be involved in the world around you. When you are not participating in the human struggle for survival, you've really dropped out of life and are no longer a part of the balance of nature.

"Giving" is a part of a balanced life.

In this case your needs will not be taken care of by anyone or anything because you are not a part of the balance. Instead, you are out of balance and will wither away and eventually die without anyone knowing or caring of your existence.

The balance of nature has provided a simple equation which says that the more you are involved in the human struggle, the greater will be your reward.

Another good example of an individual who was involved in the human struggle and created great wealth for himself was Henry Ford. He wanted to give the world a better transportation system that would save time, energy and space. Instead of developing methods to improve upon the horse and buggy, he invented a better automobile and then devoted his life to developing efficient methods of manufacturing it.

Dale Carnagie and Apple Computer

Dale Carnegie wanted to lift the human spirit to a new level. He saw many individuals who had great potential but did not know how to utilize it. He created his course on positive thinking and presented the information in YMCA’s all across the nation. He eventually wrote books about his theories, all of which are still being widely read today. His name very well may have become immortal simply because he wanted every individual to reach his full potential.

The Apple computer company wanted individuals to have the same benefits in saving time, energy and space that were being enjoyed by large businesses. Its gift to the world was a lower-priced computer that any individual could afford, plus easy-to-understand programs of instruction.

A bright future is ahead for genetic engineering because this science promises to give the world the answers to many problems in medicine. Those companies that are able to find incredible cures for cancer, heart disease and a host of other maladies will profit enormously. In this field, giving is everything.

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This article taken from Born to Be Rich.