The Joy of Giving

When I was a kid there was no better day for me than my birthday, followed closely by Christmas. Those were the two days in the year when receiving was at its max, presents, presents and more presents.  Over the years, those two days have constantly lost importance in my life, to the extent that even some of my close friends comment on the fact that I don’t like my birthdays anymore. What changed? What happened? Does this happen to everyone?

I am going to go ahead and partly blame my adorable niece, Andrea, for my “issue”. Since I don’t have any children, Andrea is as close as it gets to my own child. Unfortunately, due to the fact that we are 3,000 miles apart, I only get to see Andrea about 2 or 3 times a year. The only thing that I MUST take with me when I go visit my brother is a present for Andrea. Seeing the extreme excitement in her face whenever I open the bag to take out her present is, like the MasterCard commercial would say, priceless. She was the one that showed me that I get more joy out of her happiness than out of mine own.  Sure, I still love receiving, but I truly believe I gain more when I give than when I receive.

GBP helps me attain the feeling I get from giving to Andrea thousands of times. Whenever things get tough with GBP, I remind myself of the happiness that I get when we do the backpack drop offs. I remind myself of the smiles in the kids’ faces; the happiness and relief that those kids’ parents feel when they realize their kids are getting the tools to attain the world’s most powerful weapon, education. I urge you all to give, any way you want, maybe by making your significant other a nice breakfast in bed on a random Saturday, maybe by holding the door open for someone, maybe just getting your train conductor or your doorman a coffee one morning, anything to make someone else happy, if you do this I guarantee you will experience true joy.

-Nick