Sunday, April 13, 2008

Are you a big giver?

A ritual has formed in my house. Every Sunday my wife and I watch Oprah's Big Give and I can't begin to tell you what that show does to me. I make no secret that I am a big softie inside and that I have a tendency to cry during sad movies but for some reason I cannot make it five minutes into the Big Give without crying my eyes out. And every week I love it!

Now one thing that most people don't know about me is that I worked as a volunteer for almost four years with a group named Coarzon. During the last few years that I lived in California I spent most of my weekends in Mexico helping to build houses for poor people. I'm not talking Habitat For Humanity (which is a great organization that I totally want to work with someday). I'm talking, get your hands dirty and really change a families life; in eight hours! That's what most people who go on a Corazon trip get out of it. But if you become really involved, then you get so much more. The basic philosophy of Corazon is, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him to fish and he will eat for a lifetime." And so an entire program has been built on this philosophy and I am proud to have contributed.

But what does this have to do with the Big Give? Well I'll tell you. First, watching the contestants week after week make such dramatic gestures to struggling people has reawakened my spirit of giving. Instead of dreaming about taking a big vacation with the family or the day I can buy a new car, I've started dreaming about the day I can take my family and go back to Mexico with my Corazon friends and have that experience again. And I hope that day comes soon.

Second, I've redefined my dream-job. I'd like to be a professional Big Giver! So now I need to find a way to start giving big, even if I don't have allot to give myself...how about you?