While helping a client fill out a Change of Address form, I asked him if he liked his new apartment. He said, “yes,” but that the old one was a nicer place. However, the new apartment was “better” because he shares it with a friend.
“Sharing is better.” He told me.
He said it was better for economic reasons, but also because it’s better not to be alone (he’s currently waiting for his wife and children to join him in the United States) and that it’s good for people to share.
“Sharing is better” is so simple, but something that is so often overlooked or even looked down on in this country. We seem to ignore the fact that we depend on one another and that what we do has implications for others, whether we like it or not. We like to think we got that job all on our own and that what we bought we deserve because of our hard work. We forget that we’ve had good mentors and that a friend put in a good word for us with our new boss and that there are people who work just as hard as us—or harder—but don’t make as much money and can’t buy what we can.
Sometimes I think that the sharing that goes on in our individualistic American culture never goes much further than learning to share crayons in kindergarten. I wouldn’t be surprised if even that kind of sharing is going by the wayside because parents are probably sending their children to school with their own, individual 24 pack of Crayolas. What happened to the person with two tunics giving one to the person without a tunic?
Sharing is better—one simple economic example of this is sharing grocery money in my community. CCSC volunteers have a $100 stipend for food each month. It would be hard for one person to buy food for themselves for $100 a month, but it’s pretty easy to feed four people with $400 a month because it’s possible to buy things in bulk (and we eat at lot).
As my client pointed out, the only good kind of sharing doesn’t have to do with money. It is better not to be alone—to help others with their struggles and to allow others to help us with our struggles (not to mention that good times are so much better and so much more fun when shared with others). It is better to share your love and yourself with one other person or a community of people than to stay inside yourself.
I’m still learning to share myself with others rather than to hide within myself, but this year I have come to the conclusion that sharing is better and that community is better—and that’s a big step in the right direction.
