“Pay it forward” has become a sort of sappy cliche in our culture ever since the movie by the same name, but I recently got to enjoy seeing it in action!
A couple years ago, a man I work with at Sprint told me that he’d been given two tickets to the Outback Bowl in Tampa, FL. Iowa was playing Florida that year, and he said that if I’d use them I could have them. I ended up taking Dad down there and having one of the most memorable weeks of my life (thanks in no small part to the atrocities committed against Iowa by the Sunbelt Conference officials!).
These were really nice tickets on the club level with the climate controlled concourse and the reserved restrooms and concession stands. We got to go to the corporate tent village before the game and eat and drink to our hearts’ content. It wasn’t something that I get to do every day, to say the least! The face value of the game tickets alone was $150 per ticket, and they could have easily been sold for some tidy profit. But they weren’t, and I got to take a week-long trip to Florida to watch a bowl game with my dad for just under $600.
Clarinda recently signed up for, and won, NASCAR tickets for this weekend. I’m a little curious about what it would be like to go to a race, but on the whole – not interested. We have a neighbor; however, that will be going to two races on our behalf this weekend with his son who likes racing very much. I forgot to jot down what all they get to do, but beyond the races they’ll entry to the corporate village as well as pit tours and a host of other events any race fan would love. Everybody seem shocked that we didn’t try to sell them – even the recipient!
Maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t get that attitude. I get far more joy out of observing the gift getter than I would the extra cash. I’m not saying that I’m unique.. I have a lot of family and several good friends that are very generous spirits – givers in every sense of the word. It’s just nice to be able to see the circle come around every now and then. Just this weekend one of those good friends and I were discussing the difficulties of accepting what we perceive as charity. I have struggled with this myself, but I think it’s something that a lot of people in our culture could do well to get over.
It’s not that I have more money than I know what to do with – I don’t – or that I don’t have any desire for an extra couple hundred bucks – I do. It’s just that I’ve given very significantly at several different points in my life. I’ve seen first hand that while getting is pretty darn sweet, giving is on a whole other level!
12:30 pm on September 29th, 2007 1
Bill,
Indeed our culture does not know how to receive gifts. It is not always charity, it is many times simply a gift or present or something that simply says, “love you guys!” When someone has difficulty accepting a gift it says to the other person that they don’t care enough to accept a gift of gratitude-to accept a gift of love.
Handouts and charity, on the other hand, is more difficult because of pride. But like you said, a lot of people in our culture could do well to get over it.
-Derin-
7:35 pm on September 30th, 2007 2
I want to clarify that the “charity case” issue is not meant to apply to my neighbor at all. They’re anything but ungracious!
The culture is way too isolated – especially mine because of the work situation. It’s sad the way gifts are viewed today. As with all things that can be in any way tied to money, everyone goes on the defensive. We look at it as a message that the person thinks we couldn’t obtain a certain thing on our own. It may or may not be true, but it isn’t the point, or shouldn’t be!