How can we expect our children to know and experience the joy of giving unless we teach them that the greater pleasure in life lies in the art of giving rather than receiving.
Interpretation
Teaching children about the joy of giving fosters a sense of appreciation and generosity.
This quote emphasizes the importance of instilling the values of generosity and giving in children. It suggests that the true pleasure in life is found not in what we receive, but in what we give to others, thereby cultivating a spirit of kindness and empathy in the next generation.
In practice
During a parenting workshop, I shared this quote to highlight the importance of teaching generosity.
The friendly smile, the word of greeting, are certainly something fleeting and seemingly insubstantial. You can’t take them with you. But they work for good beyond your power to measure their influence. It is the service we are not obliged to give that people value most.
I do not believe in excuses. I believe in hard work as the prime solvent of life's problems.
A merchant who approaches business with the idea of serving the public well has nothing to fear from the competition.
Every man must decide for himself whether he shall master his world or be mastered by it.
It is the service we are not obliged to give that people value most.
Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.
Education with inert ideas is not only useless; it is above all things harmful.
There is a perception in our communities that we have low educational outcomes in low-income communities because kids aren't motivated or families don't care. We've discovered that is not the case.
I want to start two institutions, one in Madras and one in Calcutta, to carry out my plan; and that plan briefly is to bring the Vedantic ideals into the everyday practical life of the saint or the sinner, of the sage or the ignoramus, of the Brahmin or the Pariah.
Youth Ministry, as traditionally organized, has also suffered the impact of social changes. Young people often fail to find responses to their concerns, needs, problems and hurts in the usual structures. As adults, we find it hard to listen patiently to them, to appreciate their concerns, demands, and to speak to them in a language they can understand.
The library, I believe, is the last of our public institutions to which you can go without credentials. You don't even need the sticker on your windshield that you need to get into the public beach. All you need is the willingness to read.
The rest, with very little exaggeration, was books. Meant-to-be-picked-up books. Permanently-left-behind books. Uncertain-what-to-do-with books. But books, books. Tall cases lined three walls of the room, filled to and beyond capacity. The overflow had been piled in stacks on the floor. There was little space left for walking, and none whatever for pacing.
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