The riddle of the right and left hand!

I am still not off the topic of charity, 'cause I missed the most important aspect of giving ... forgetting. No not forgetting to give but to forget that you gave. Not only does this keep your ego in check but also helps in differentiating between a loan and a gift.

The reason I call it important is because I have struggled with this aspect of giving for as long as I know. There have been several occasions when I have boasted about my giving, there is a very fine line between boasting and edifying, a line I have crossed many times. I can blame it on my youth but not anymore.

A few of you would have figured out what the title refers to, for the rest here is the meaning: it refers to a sermon of Jesus which talks about how even your left have should have not know what your right had is giving. Though it sounds absurd the crus of the matter was that you are not to do good for the sake of showing off. Its principle that few even attempt, something that I have only seen in a very few people, like my dear friend Koshy living in Tally.

I have never come across a person more ready to help a stranger than him and more importantly not willing to remember his help to others. He could care less weather you are grateful or not, and even if you are of the not variety, he would still help with all his might. There have been times when I myself have called him a fool for the all out way he goes to help people but he is content to disregard it with a shrug of his shoulders. All he ever quotes is the Bible to prove that its better to give without expecting because his aim his eternal life and not worldly riches.

This is an aspect of giving that would not sound as important unless you believed in something more important than us. That there is a God and that he rewards us with eternal life. Some might even say that its not really giving unselfishly because, we are expecting something in return from the "higher power"! And they maybe true, because at the end of it we crave for happiness and contentment.

But I would rather crave for fulfillment rather than hold my giving and my helping as a stranglehold on the people benefited by it. This is something that not only helps in giving but even in our relationship ... so many relationships could be saved if we did all our kind acts without expecting anything in return. I used to always wonder how Koshy kept his faith in humanity after meeting so many 'unappreciative people and then I realized that he never expected anything for himself from them.

I have heard so many people tell me that they would only do more for others if there were more appreciative people around, which made me realise that they only wanted to give so others would speak well of them and not for the sake of giving. As I wrote in the previous post, people need kindness more than material help, so all your giving is going waste if giving itself is not your ultimate goal.

So here's hopin that more people would give and live above themselves!

Give without expecting, receive without forgetting