On Giving.

I took the bus to Derby today. It’s cheaper, easier and more environmentally friendly than using the car, and also gives me the chance to read in a space uncluttered by competing demands. Rummaging through my backpack, I found a copy of The Prophet by Khalil Gibran that a friend lent me some time ago. I’d forgotten it was there, and decided to read a few pages. They contained his homily on the subject of giving. What follows is a selection of his words. I have to quote them verbatim because I have neither the eloquence to write such words, nor the well of wisdom from which to draw them. I might be in breach of copyright law, but some things are more important.

‘You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.’

‘There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.
And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.’

‘It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.’

‘All you have shall some day be given;
Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors.’

‘You often say “I would give, but only to the deserving.”
The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.’

‘For in truth it is life that gives unto life – while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.’

‘And you receivers – and you are all receivers – assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.
Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings.’

With thanks to Zoe for reminding me.

And then I settled back and watched the countryside of rural England slip by in the April sunshine. This area is old fashioned mixed farming country, a rolling landscape of fields, hedgerows, shallow downs and a multitude of trees. I’d never realised before how much wild cherry there is growing here. Today they were decked in dense white blossom, like white candyfloss on sticks. It was a nice trip.