Day 3,594 —Reflections on Giving—

 There are a lot of people living on the street in St. Louis. It is everywhere, and at times it can feel overwhelming seeing all the individuals living on the street.

         I was having just that kind of day recently when I did something I usually don’t do. I gave the guy a pair of sunglasses. Not necessarily the best gift in the world, but it was meaningful to me because it was difficult for me to part with the sunglasses. I just bought them, but I thought, isn’t this exactly the kind of giving that has meaning?

         Now, I am breaking my rule by writing about it, but only because I feel the situation confronted me with something else. Yesterday, I thought I saw the guy without the sunglasses on a bright day. It might not have been him, but I realized how I was imagining this guy going around with my sunglasses for the foreseeable future and in his mind thanking me for the glasses. That I am somehow now connected with this man I met one time, and we have some sort of unbreakable bond.

         And this thought made me realize that I am still putting conditions on my gifts, which is just not cool. I got to do better.