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It’s easy to lose faith in people.
When all our information comes from the news media we begin to think that the world is always burning with hatred and danger. When we focus on our expectations of people, particularly in relation to what we feel as our due, we always come out feeling wronged and short-changed.
But sometimes, when we are attentive and committed to staying present, we find that people are good.
On the 10th I went down to Smithville, TX – an area just southeast of Bastrop, TX where the majority of the Texas wildfires hit and where over 1500 homes were destroyed – and volunteered at the Bastrop Central Distribution Center managed by the Smithville Ministerial Alliance . Hundreds of other people were there helping out, some driving 2-3 hours to come out. Since then the number of people volunteering their time, material and fiscal resources, and energy has only increased.
That is not to say that they have all the support they need. More than 1500 families lost everything, and we all know federal aid will never replace that loss.
I’ve talked a lot about the yogic yama ahimsa, but an equally important precept (this one again from the Zen tradition) is the commitment to take only those things which are offered freely and to give freely of all that we can. The first part of that precept is held in the yogic yama of asteya (non-stealing), while the second half of it pushes us to follow the yogic yama of brahmacharya (non-excess) because when we give of all we can we never hold on to excess. The victims of the Bastrop fires were forcibly taught what the yama aparigraha (non-possessiveness) is all about, but those of us who were not so drastically affected have the ability to learn that wonderful lesson by choice.
Some people lost everything
Last weekend, while tooling around Austin with my friend Courtney, I picked up a children’s book from World Spirit Books called “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?” by Carol McCloud and illustrated by David Messing. This gem of a book talks all about how we each carry our individual buckets of happiness and love everywhere we go, and how we fill or deplete the buckets. The critical lesson of the book is that there is a reciprocal, positively correlated action with regard to our own buckets when we fill those of other people. That is, when we fill other people’s buckets ours is also filled, and when we deplete others’ ours is also depleted. I love this principle! So if I follow the Zen principle above, I do not only fill other people’s buckets: I also fill my own. It’s wonderful!
Notice I never said that we should be completely selfless, or that people in general are selfless. On the contrary, I suggest we become very selfish when it comes to our happiness. If we were to truly focus on becoming happy, we would engage in all sorts of acts of love and kindness which mutually fill the buckets of other people and ourselves. Thus, selfish behaviors, which are completely natural and normal, can be harnessed to create a better world, one where we don’t have to wait for tragic events to show again our “indomitable spirit.”
However, if you want to start practicing selfish, loving, kindness and immediately fill your bucket and those of hundreds of fire victims please feel free to go to my CrowdRise project for the Bastrop fire victims benefitting the American Red Cross Central Texas Chapter, one of the many organizations providing relief to the victims. You can also make donations to the Smithville Ministerial Alliance by following the instructions here .
But don’t stop there. Most of us know the old maxim to “be the change you want to see.” Let us all begin today.
