A Drop Creates a Ripple

The problem with today's society is that the gift doesn't seem to be constantly giving. There is a famous saying that every drop creates a ripple effect. This signifies the importance that someone has to start this phenomenon of giving. Once someone helps one person out, it's likely that that same person will continue it and help someone else. Let's create this never ending trend of kindness. But the truth of the matter is that it's nearly impossible for one person to make a tidal wave so-to-speak. Although there have been some great inspired people that do huge things for the benefit of their community, it's rare that one individual can make that drastic change. Based on reading the first couple of chapters in The Gift, my take on it is that every gift is some sort of commodity and although it may not always be tangible, it should be given back in another form to another person that will nonetheless create this ripple effect.

As you may have already experienced some time in your life, there are good people out there. People that are willing to give and sacrifice for the happiness of others. This is really inspiring to see once something takes off and is spread throughout the globe. There is just one thing that bothers me the most. Whether this is prevalent now or not, tragedies don't need to be the things that happen to make us realize we should give. To me, this often seems like that's where most of the world is going today. If it doesn't benefit them or it doesn't affect them directly, they refuse to get involved. Now that is generalizing a bit but you can clearly see the impact one event can do to motivate someone to get out there and help. What about the Boston Marathon for instance? We all grieved. We all suffered. We all were affected. This is one of those times where we NEED to stand together in order for all of us to stay strong. We all went into thinking what our country is going to be like if these tragedies continue to exist? We are all united when drastic events happen to our country. How about 9/11? Where were you when the planes struck? We were all completely affected of the destruction this caused regardless of whether you were near New York or not. Everyone knows what happened from there, right? We stood together and each of us lent a helping hand. These helping hands, however, continue to change over the course of the century.

Helping doesn't have to be giving an expensive car away or something materialistic to reflect generosity. It could be as easy as telling someone everything will be alright and just reassuring them that they're not going through this alone. That, in turn, could most definitely be more beneficial based on the person receiving it. There is some importance in every commodity to two particular people: the person who put in the work and labor to make/give it and the person who is receiving it. Hyde was saying that this commodity should most certainly not be reinvested in order to make them profit from it individually. It should be redistributed in some form to another person that reaps the benefits from that one.

We just saw so many instances where people have been generous in giving. For example, based on the winnings of the SuperBowl, Tom Brady received the Most Valuable Player award for this past NFL season. He showed tremendous talent and effort throughout the entire game along with the help from his teammates. With that being said, NFL always seems to give out some type of huge prize to the MVP most likely being a car of some sort. Brady won a 2015 Chevrolet truck and then gave it to Malcolm Butler who, in Tom's opinion, was most deserving of this gift. He showed not only good sportsmanship in recognizing the hard work the Patriots went through to get where they are today however he also showed compassion and generosity and doing something to benefit not just himself. This kind of is a key example as to what people can do for others without it being expected or taken advantage of. It definitely is inspiring to see these changes and hopefully by seeing these acts of kindness, it will motivate the rest of us to make something happen!