Growing Edges
alexa lopezArchive for September 8, 2007
The Undervalued Commodity
The poor person gives, and what he gives is more valuable than any amount of money given by the wealthy.
A person who gives time gives more because time is that one thing that is gone once it is gone…not to mention that time spent usually means an investment of oneself with a yield of personal growth. Writing a check (”giving”) without investing time in the life of another is a gutless attempt toward earning the praise of man — a barren existence indeed.
If time is all a person has to give, I say all the better. Nothing could persuade me against believing that this country — in fact, this world — would be a much better place if we only spent more time helping people and less money on things.
Does money help? Sure it does. But it is a band-aid. Give people time and opportunity also.
Even if the poor who are time-givers could rise to a better socio-economic level (long odds against that in this country, by the way) they would never be able to recover what they gave in terms of what they have spent: time, the under-valued commodity.
That’s why I admire those people who invest time in people.
Investment of time in the life of another…to mentor, to give a boost, to equip, to foster an encouraging and compassionate environment for lifting oneself up…is the best of all.
The only thing better is to be able to do both.
© Alexa Lopez 2007
A Life Without Regrets
Someone who was once influential in my life often said to have no regrets.
This person has many regrets — it is obvious — and has chosen to avoid facing his destructive behaviors. His “no regrets” mantra is all about pride, about ignoring the beaten and the wounded on the path behind him. He is one miserable old man.
Regrets are good teaching tools in my opinion. All of us should live long enough to realize at least one thing we could have done differently. Wishing we had done things differently cannot possibly change the past, but it can certainly direct the decisions we make now that will affect the future.
When someone tells me that looking back upon the ruins on the path I’ve already trodden is pointless, I tell them that I’ve yet more roads to travel and that the legacy I choose to leave is of one who has learned from her mistakes.
© Alexa Lopez 2007
