On giving

             Kahlil Gibran

             'You give but little when you give of your possessions.
             It is when you give of yourself that you truly give."


             my question: how can one give of oneself? the way gibran means it? what all does it entail? does this giving ur self in the simplest term of the world 'giving ur time' to whosoever who needs it?( time...is it a commodity, a possession? in that sense, then isnt 'yourself' also a possession, a commodity?) the more  i think, the more i feel what gibran meant when he says the above, is that, for example, if u see a sick person, u give him money, cause it ur duty, but its not enough. u should also give him compassion., u give him ur 'time', your love....that kind of giving

             i m trying to makes more sense of the statement, and this incident that happened two days back flash by.

            i was walking out of grant road station to work, and there was this very old lady, sitting alone on a narrow ledge, eating, enjoying her lunch, while hundreds of commuters walked in and out of her 'dining room' ..... chappatis, sabji, and she was having a boul of rubber tube cut from a car tyre no doubt, in which she was churning curds,before she had the drink. i was facinated by her curd churner, it was a smaller model of the regular churner u see in most indian homes, made of thin stripes of bamboo, and i was marveling at the craftsmanship of the person who must have made it.

          in the meanwhile, she thought i was pitying her poverty, and gave me a self depreciating laugh.  

          i smiled back at her, which said, no, its not ur poverty, its ur 'kingly' way of eating that caught my attention. and I went ahead...

i guess, respect, man to man, is a huge part of giving!



yes, i think i got it....its 'connecting'' thats 'giving'!