Who are you helping?

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I was talking to a friend of mine today and he said what used to give him joy is when he helps someone. Then he proceeded and said, when I wake up in the morning the first question I ask myself is who am I going to help today? And when I am going to bed the last question I ask myself is who have I helped today. He said this is what has been keeping him motivated.

After our conversation I said to myself — this is a good philosophy to imbibe and as from today I will start asking myself these two questions on a daily basis. One thing I have noticed about all creators (whether God or the founder of Toyota motors) is that they never created anything for itself. Why was a mango tree created? It’s not for the mango tree to be able consume the mangoes it produced but for the consumption of human. Even an ant wasn’t created for creation sake. For example, ants turn and aerate the soil, allowing water and oxygen to reach plant roots. ants take seeds down into their tunnel to eat the nutritious elaiosomes that are part of the seed. These seeds often sprout and grow new plants (seed dispersal). An ancient lyric even explained to human how they can learn from this little creature approach to life.

Now I ask you these question — who are you helping? Who are you willing to help? Well, you might say I just want to be rich and take care of myself. Yes, that’s a good philosophy too; but one thing I have noticed about self care, self ambitions and all other selves is that their reward is limiting. There is something great about imbibing this kind of philosophy that my friend has. You see, for you to help someone else you first need to help yourself. For a mango tree to give human mangoes there are some process it needs to go through; it first needs to produce those mangoes. What I’m trying to say in essence is that the key to helping others is to help you first. My teacher once told me this — the best contribution I can make to someone else is my own personal development. If I become 10 times wiser or 10 times stronger, think of what that will do for my adventure as a father… as a business colleague… as a friend.

help you so that you can help me