You get what you give

Generosity is a very important human virtue. It is a part of being human. It is an act of kindness when someone does something to help someone else, expecting just love and gratitude in return, and quite often, not even that.

Nature has innumerable examples of times when we see give and take. Even simplest of the tasks like breathing, we give out carbon dioxide to get oxygen, i.e., we exhale carbon dioxide to inhale oxygen, only then we are able to breathe. Not just this example, in the wild, we see many animals and birds who have a symbiotic relationship among themselves that helps them to thrive better in the harsh world of the wild. A great example is the example of the buffaloes and the storks. We see many wild or domestic cattle, both cows and buffaloes, on whose back many small birds sit. The cattle let the birds to sit on them because there are many small insects on the bodies of the cattle and the birds clean up the animals by eating the insects. Now, because of this symbiotic relationship of the cattle herds and the birds, the birds are able to get their food, which is insects on the cattle’s bodies, and also the cattle are able to get relief from the irritating bugs and insects on their bodies which they wouldn’t be able to remove otherwise.

We saw symbiotic relationship in nature, which is the relationship among animals of different kinds of give and take. But we also see parasitic relationships in nature. A parasitic relationship is when a parasite (an organism that uses resources from its host organism) fulfils his daily requirements by taking it from the host organism, without giving anything in return. Not going too deep, let’s take a simple example. Leeches are found in muddy and marsh areas. All organisms, especially organisms with thick skin like elephants need a lot of water to thrive. And for water, they have to approach these marsh and muddy areas. What happens is that when the elephants start to go in or come out of the water, the leeches get stuck to their skin and start sucking their blood. It causes a lot of pain but there’s nothing the elephant—even when being the largest land animal of the planet, can do to save itself. Until the leech will be full, it will not leave its grasp and keep on sucking blood. This is a parasitic relation among animals of the natural world.

Okay, enough about the natural world and biology. I know I have put some terms here, but it was only to make the concept easier to understand. Anyways, let’s go to a more humane environment, the environment to which you and I are more familiar to.

We all have to give something to get something, even in our human environment. When you go to a shop, to buy something, you have to give money to the shopkeeper to get what you want to buy. If you want money, then you need to work—either hard or smart, but you have to work either way to get the money you would need to buy something. This way, the entire system of our human society is like a chain, you give something to someone else, he gives you something, then you give that thing to someone else, and in return you get what you want or what you need.

Note in the algorithm it started with you giving something; money or work or time, for you to get something from it—not from you taking something. Unfortunately, most people only think about their side of the bargain. They never want to do something important and beneficial to someone else. In other words, people today are becoming more and more selfish. Sad, but true. Even if you look deep beneath yourself, you will find that you did do something selfish at some point, which is true for everybody on the planet.

If you look at our examples of biology from above, then you would see that humans today have become parasites, rather than symbionts. And because the society is a linked system, if we become parasites, the whole system would collapse, if not today then eventually. And this is the truth.

You get what you give. This is the reality of human life. If you treat someone with respect, then he would treat you with respect in return. If you help someone in need, then they would help you in need, whenever possible. So if you want to become a respected individual among the society, learn to respect everyone in the society. If you want to be rich and earn money, first learn to give money to people in need. First you need to give something to get loads of it in return. Many philosophers have said true things about our give-and-take system, you give someone a full glass, and you get buckets in return. The person in front of you is like a mirror. If you ought him to do something for you, then you ought to do the same thing for him, or something of equal value for him too. So learn to give, and you will get more than what you have given in return.