Holten: Giving is the new getting

How is your getting going? I mean, how are you doing at getting yours, your part of the world? That’s what life is all about, isn’t it? Getting yours? Getting what’s coming to you? At least that’s what it used to be, not because God and the universe planned it that way, but because that’s just the way it all evolved.
Even the Bible said, way back when in Mark 10:30, for example, that if you give you will get back a hundredfold, which is nothing short of an amazing return on your investment in any portfolio. In this case, it’s the life portfolio, and that’s even better yet. Imagine it. All we have to do is give and we get back a hundredfold. But let’s use only tenfold for our example here, otherwise the numbers get too high. So if we give $5 a day, we get back at least $50. Take that times 30 days in a month and it equals $1,500 a month, times 12 months equals $18,000 a year. That’s a $1,500 return for an investment of only $150 a month, or an $18,000 return for an investment of only $1,500 a year. That’s great business. It’s a gain of $16,500. Wouldn’t you love to turn in a $1,500 dollar bill and get an $18,000 dollar bill back each year? But wait a minute. Didn’t I miscalculate that? Tenfold is tenfold, right? So doesn’t the return on that investment actually equal $150 trillion in only nine months? Sure it does. After all, if I give that first $1,500 one month’s earnings away right away, my return on investment will be $15,000 that I’ll get back the next month. Then if I give that $15,000 earnings away right away, my return the next month will be $150,000, and if I give that away right away my next month’s earnings will be $1.5 million. Then if I give the next month’s $1.5 million away right away, the return will be $15 million, the next month’s will be $150 million, the next month’s will be $1.5 billion, the next will be $15 billion, then $150 billion, $1.5 trillion and then $150 trillion, and so on. So, by giving $5 away one day, I earn $150 trillion just nine months later. That’s amazing. Of course, in the Bible, the focus of your return on investment isn’t really limited to money, is it? There are a lot of other things that you can give away. You can give of your time, your heart, your kindness, patience, knowledge, wisdom, respect and, best of all, you can give someone or a bunch of people your love. If you show some respect, you can get a mountain of respect back. Or if you show some kindness, you will get a trillion acts of kindness back and then you can give those away again, and who knows how much kindness will be spread around the world? Makes you feel kind of important, doesn’t it? Look at the impact that just little old you can have. But we’re a cynical group, aren’t we? We think that, just because we give what makes us think that others will? Some people are just takers, aren’t they? Apparently, that doesn’t matter. A rule is a rule. If you give, you get back a hundredfold. It doesn’t matter how it happens. It just matters that it does. Some people call it karma. I call it wonderful. That’s why I think we are about to enter the Age of the Giver. It just makes too much sense. At some point, the human race - with its gift of intellect - is going to be smart enough to figure it all out. Max Beerhohm, the English essayist, parodist and caricaturist said, “To give and then not feel that one has given is the very best of all ways of giving.” That’s true. But if you want to really know what it’s like to give, you might want to use love as the prime example. For as Robert Louis Stevenson, the Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer once said, “You can give without love, but you can never love without giving.” So make sure that you give, because if you don’t, you lose. Holten is the executive director of the North Dakota Hall of Fame. He writes a bi-weekly column for The Dickinson Press.How is your getting going? I mean, how are you doing at getting yours, your part of the world?That’s what life is all about, isn’t it? Getting yours? Getting what’s coming to you?At least that’s what it used to be, not because God and the universe planned it that way, but because that’s just the way it all evolved.
Even the Bible said, way back when in Mark 10:30, for example, that if you give you will get back a hundredfold, which is nothing short of an amazing return on your investment in any portfolio. In this case, it’s the life portfolio, and that’s even better yet.Imagine it. All we have to do is give and we get back a hundredfold. But let’s use only tenfold for our example here, otherwise the numbers get too high. So if we give $5 a day, we get back at least $50.Take that times 30 days in a month and it equals $1,500 a month, times 12 months equals $18,000 a year. That’s a $1,500 return for an investment of only $150 a month, or an $18,000 return for an investment of only $1,500 a year. That’s great business. It’s a gain of $16,500. Wouldn’t you love to turn in a $1,500 dollar bill and get an $18,000 dollar bill back each year?But wait a minute. Didn’t I miscalculate that?Tenfold is tenfold, right? So doesn’t the return on that investment actually equal $150 trillion in only nine months? Sure it does.After all, if I give that first $1,500 one month’s earnings away right away, my return on investment will be $15,000 that I’ll get back the next month. Then if I give that $15,000 earnings away right away, my return the next month will be $150,000, and if I give that away right away my next month’s earnings will be $1.5 million.Then if I give the next month’s $1.5 million away right away, the return will be $15 million, the next month’s will be $150 million, the next month’s will be $1.5 billion, the next will be $15 billion, then $150 billion, $1.5 trillion and then $150 trillion, and so on. So, by giving $5 away one day, I earn $150 trillion just nine months later. That’s amazing.Of course, in the Bible, the focus of your return on investment isn’t really limited to money, is it? There are a lot of other things that you can give away.You can give of your time, your heart, your kindness, patience, knowledge, wisdom, respect and, best of all, you can give someone or a bunch of people your love.If you show some respect, you can get a mountain of respect back. Or if you show some kindness, you will get a trillion acts of kindness back and then you can give those away again, and who knows how much kindness will be spread around the world?Makes you feel kind of important, doesn’t it? Look at the impact that just little old you can have.But we’re a cynical group, aren’t we? We think that, just because we give what makes us think that others will? Some people are just takers, aren’t they?Apparently, that doesn’t matter. A rule is a rule. If you give, you get back a hundredfold. It doesn’t matter how it happens. It just matters that it does. Some people call it karma. I call it wonderful.That’s why I think we are about to enter the Age of the Giver. It just makes too much sense. At some point, the human race - with its gift of intellect - is going to be smart enough to figure it all out.Max Beerhohm, the English essayist, parodist and caricaturist said, “To give and then not feel that one has given is the very best of all ways of giving.”That’s true. But if you want to really know what it’s like to give, you might want to use love as the prime example.For as Robert Louis Stevenson, the Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer once said, “You can give without love, but you can never love without giving.”So make sure that you give, because if you don’t, you lose.Holten is the executive director of the North Dakota Hall of Fame. He writes a bi-weekly column for The Dickinson Press.