Giving is Living

 It is challenging to write a post like this without sounding judgmental, but I want to share an experience I’m having. Since inception, the Lady Blaga mission is very much focused on giving back. This has always been very important to me as an individual, and I feel fortunate to use my various platforms to satisfy that deep need to give, help, and connect.

I am currently planning a huge hospital give back mission to thank our heroic front liners during this global crisis. No years of medical training could have prepared anyone for this. What has been asked of hospital staffers these past few months is not to be believed. I know several doctors who have died from contracting COVID 19. My friends and I are scared of the grocery store; imagine the doctors, nurses, janitors, security guards, and ambulance drivers who are thrust into the depths of the virus daily?

I wanted a way to show appreciation, love, and thanks in my own small way. As with most events, funding has been needed. I reached out to numerous people, something I’m inherently uncomfortable with, to help sponsor this give back mission. Of course I gave myself too, as did my team members. Many of the people I asked are financially blessed. I’d say the majority didn’t even respond to me, which has been so disheartening. I only approached people who I really thought would want to help, to whatever extent they could or chose to. I made it clear that any amount would go to supporting struggling local business who agreed to feed hospital workers for the event. It was a really sad bummer to learn that those who could have easily given did not. I’m talking about folks who live really well, god bless them. On the flip side, it was also made apparent that most who did donate have very little to spare, yet were committed to opening their hearts anyway. What I concluded was that it’s not a global pandemic that changes one’s desire to give; it’s just that this certain point in time is highlighting that one way or the other. The beautiful stories of giving we see on the news and social media? I’m guessing those wonderful acts are done by people who are inclined to do them anyway. It’s just that now we know about it. Those who are less inclined to give are the ones hoarding all the grocery items. Those who are in touch with their open hearts are taking their bread and eggs out of their shopping carts and giving it to the elderly couple on the checkout line. I don’t think people are necessarily changing from the pandemic, because external factors don’t make us any different. Whatever we give or take comes from an inside place. Certainly crises can shake up the system and be a catalyst for change and growth, but no real growth lasts if it doesn’t stem from a pure inner seed. I know hundreds of people; my observation has been that the givers were givers anyway and the hoarders were tight fisted anyway too. It was a letdown to learn that so many of the people I reached out to not only didn’t rally, but couldn’t even be bothered to respond. Family, friends, business contacts. It was another harsh lesson in seeing who I can count on, a further clarification of who wants to help only when I’m not down and out (then people tend to come in droves). Or that if they’re not center stage then there’s no interest. I’m no misanthrope or cynic, but if you can’t count on people to lend a hand now... then these are people who I should assume won’t be there for me in any capacity. As Ram Dass says, “how you react is your karma, and how I react is mine.” He also says that “it’s all just part of the curriculum”.

Part of my karma and curriculum is to observe without judging, to learn while observing, and above all to be so grateful for my own open heart. It has a history of opening too much to the wrong things, but that is what allows it to open to the right things. In its own way the world has been going on, open heartbeats included. There will always be givers and those who shut down out of fear they won’t have enough or get enough publicity. My only course of action is to keep traveling the path that feels right to me. As one teacher said, the right moves fill you with joy and peace; the rest is all ego. All I can do is keep discerning between the two, and keep believing I’ll meet up with likeminded souls to share the experience of giving with. Because if you want to share, there is always another way to divide that one slice of bread.