Give, Give, Give...

I had several friends tell me over the years that in many cultures the best way to deal with anything was to give it away. What huge joy there is in that.

Moonface Bear, a Paugeesukq chief said that folks don't understand stuff in Indian communities, they give a gift to one person, then the next day it is in another person's house, then another, and after a year everybody has owned it, and the non-native who gave it said no one values the thing. Moon said, the reality is that everyone valued it so much, they had to pass it on.

Nadia Sermatakis, (I hope I spelled thy name right if thee is out there...) a teacher of mine at NYU said the same thing about Greek folkloric communities. "If I give you this shawl, then for you this is always 'Nadia's Shawl' when you were it... my name and giving it to you attaches to it, so the only way to really own it, imprint my name on it is to give it away".

Oh dear Friends... would it not be a wonderful thing to do that with ego at every moment, even say, at meetings for worship with a concern for business? I don't think it is impossible, eh? To give ego can also be to NOT give something, sometimes, like... advice!?

What a dear gift to trust and be silent when thee thinks that something is so clear to thee that the other is "wrong - wrong headed - dressed wrongly - not Quaker enough all the little wrongs..."

I think I gave a friend to a Friend tonight... and oh, though I was alone in my house, I was so, so not alone in my heart.

How wonderful that ye can give thy heart again and again.

My love to both of ye

(and the rest of ye as well...)