Giving is getting

If you know me at all, you know I love music, and I love lyrics. I find it interesting that Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame wrote a song "Wondering aloud" which declared, "It's only the giving that makes you who you are." It's a short beautiful song of introspection, ending with that declaration of selflessness. I interpreted it this way, "We are at our best when we are giving it all away."

If you think about it long enough, I think you'd agree that giving something away and expecting nothing at all in return is, well, beautiful. I personally think that is the deepest reflection of God. He gave us so much without asking for payment. Yes, He hopes to illicit a response of love... but we remain free to respond or not. In fact, as He is all-knowing, He knew many of us would ignore Him completely, yet He gave any way. In some sense, we know God best because He gave.

When we think of extraordinary people throughout history, we know many of them because they gave their time, or talents, or treasures in some remarkable manner. I'm not talking about tabloid fame, but real admiration type notariety. These selfless people have inspired us, and the giving-ness is even perpetuated by their great acts of giving.

That said, I think that when we give in this truly altruistic manner, expecting nothing at all in return, we feel really good about ourselves. I personally do not think that is a horrible thing - to give and feel good about it. Why not? It is good. I guess that could be abused and someone could give big just to be noticed, but in the grand scheme of things, there are worse acts to be accused of... ;-)

Curiously, Ian Anderson wrote years later a song called, "Wondering Again" where he relates a bitterness, frustration, and even disgust at the world phoniness and disharmony. The music is somewhat dissonant as he states decidedly, "It's only the taking that makes you what you are." He almost seems to regret that he has to say it is so.

I guess when all things are considered, it is actually both. What we give, and what we take, makes us who we are. I just think it's the giving that makes us the better us.