What Would You Sacrifice?
Posted: Thursday, December 30, 2010
by George Stay
If you are any kind of human being, then your life is lined with sacrifice.
Some of them may be small, as in letting a friend or co-worker decide where the two of you will eat lunch. And some can be crucial, as in putting your life on the line to save someone else.
Large or small, however, the best sacrifices are those freely and willingly given.
What about family? Parents? Siblings? Cousins? Depending on the relationship you have with these people, you may or may not feel as compelled to sacrifice a lot. I know there is little I would not give up for the sake of my parents or siblings. Cousins? Well, that depends on which ones and the situation.
What about strangers? People who have not even been born yet? Not so eager to sacrifice for them, are you? Don’t feel badly, because I can’t blame you. And yet that is something young men and women from this great nation do every day of the year. They stand ready to surrender everything – especially their lives – for complete strangers, for people who have yet to be born. They are ready to sacrifice it all for the sake of this nation and its people.
And they are not singular in this willingness. Young people have done this throughout our history. In fact, it is their willingness and readiness to give up their lives for the rest of us that keeps this nation safe and has kept us free and democratic.
And, back during World War II, we were willing to make sacrifices so that they could do their duty and fight, and if necessary die, for us. We pinched, we scrounged, we had bond drives, we had scrap drives, we did everything we could on the home front for them.
Those people, however, do not live here anymore. We no longer want to sacrifice anything for the military, or for the future of the nation. We won’t give up any government services, or raise our taxes, to eliminate the national debt and make this nation more financially secure. We’re not eager to do without anything so those in military service have the best equipment available in order to spare their lives and give them the best opportunity to protect this nation and still survive.
Heck, we’re not even willing to sacrifice much to save our neighbor, people we know.
We have grown soft. We have grown self-centered. We have grown short-sighted.
We need to rediscover the meaning of sacrifice and know that it is only when we give freely to others, even those we do not know and may never meet, that we are our noblest selves and the greatest example to a world that increasingly sees us a diminishing world power.
Yes, it is easier to talk about sacrifice than to really do it. But sometimes we have to put others ahead of ourselves. We have to surrender what we really want out of life so that others can have the chance to have a better life. Sometimes we just have to be willing and ready to sacrifice.
So what are you willing to give up?
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More commentsI agree that "we" as a nation have become very self centered. As to the unwillingness to sacrifice for the sake of the military, I have to wonder if some of this isn't due to the fact that the "enemy" is more nebulous today than it was in WW I or WW II. I'm also not completely convinced that we are fighting today to preserve our freedom. Somehow it seems more power based, more oil, more control, etc. Then again, perhaps that's pretty much always been the case with "war", and we are slowly, ever so slowly beginning to reject that, thus the reluctance to sacrifice for military equipment. Today, it seems the willingness to sacrifice becomes much more personal; we want to SEE how we are helping, so we do things locally that we feel we are actively involved in.Just some random thoughts of mine. :)Joyce, thanks for the comment. You are right, the enemy has changed and that has made sacrifice more difficult. At the same time, we seem to be a nation more interested in instant gratification than in making the world and our country better for generations yet to come.
I have been taught to sacrifice a lot right from a young age. Even if it has to do with something as little as giving away your toys for someone to play with for a while or even today just to give a little bit of extra space to your room mate in the hostel room, if that brings peace in your friendship and makes him happy, just do it. Sacrifice need not be anything big according to me, it could be anything insignificantly small but still important to our growth in that moment of acting. Without sacrifice we can never expect to grow or progress spiritually. Thanks for bringing such an important topic George. :-)Thanks. I think sacrifice, big and small, is just overlooked and ignored in our self-centered world today.I totally agree!
I believe in sacrificing luxuries such as wealth and what have you. Only I, as an individual am not a wealthy person those with all the money should sacrifice a little. In all charities the common person is asked to donate money it's always the meek whom contribute to the welfare of our nation.David, you have a good point. It does often seem that those who have little but appreciate what little they have are those most willing to sacrifice. Thanks for your comment.
George, all I can say is we obviously live in alternate parallel universes. I have experienced both giving and receiving of sacrifice. I witness it. Maybe it depends on the type and depth of sacrifice you are referring to?Suzi, I have seen and experienced the sacrifice of others, but I still see a prevailing attitude against sacrifice in our nation. It just seems that too many people aren't willing to, say, sacrifice having a bigger car, a nicer house or some new toy in order for this great nation to solve some of its problems. And, then again, maybe I am just all wet.
Hello Gregory. Excellent! I would only disagree with one thing; I think we have grown hard and cold - If only we would all grow softer.I appreciate your passion! Many blessings for a new year - thanks to all who give freely, and the One who gave of Himself so freely and sacrifically. God bless you :-)Teresa, thanks for your comment. You may be on to something. Maybe it is our hardness and coldness that makes us this way. If so, that is an even further shame.
I guess I see this in a little different light than perhaps you do George. I see the same people today that are willing to sacrifice everything for the betterment of this country. What I see are people that sacrifice daily for the things that our leaders say they must sacrifice, and have been for the last 40 to 50 years now, and this generally for the betterment of 15% to 20% of the population that they will never know nor that will ever want to know them personally. They are content just to know that these people have seen their wages stagnate for over 40 years now while they continue to hoarde wealth never before known to mankind. I see the middle class and poor with rotting teeth and dying from diseases that with proper preventive medicine could have been avoided because we can not afford affordable, accesible health care such as they get in every other industrialized country in the world. I see family's who once could have a home with one parent working so the other could help raise their children as opposed to leaving them with strangers, that now must both work and still losing their homes in record numbers. I see brave men and women going to war and dying for the first time America has ever invaded a sovereign country in the final analysis to serve corporate interests in the region. I see these same corporations moving their businesses abroad so that they can pay a lower wage than the minimum wage they would have to pay them here, but of course their cost of living is less than it is here and they have universal health care. Leaving the people that helped them build their fortunes to rot in poverty, etc. I could go on, but I'm not going to write a novel here. So when I hear what are the great people of this nation willing to sacrifice, I would and am willing to commit my life to helping bring the facts to light about just what these great people are willing to sacrifice for their country. I think the proper question would be what are those that sacrifice very little for this country be willing to sacrifice for those that helped them get to the point to where they don't have to. God bless Americans and all that they do sacrifice!Well, David, you make some valid points here. I, too, appreciate those who do make sacrifices and the sacrifices they make. I guess I only wish there were more of them, especially, as you say, at the top of the economic food chain.
This is wonderful and true George about that part of being willing to help or not even our neighbors so near yet so far but we seem to be ignorant and can't be bothered. How bad we have become . What a shame with mankind. In fact, this is selfish and unloved and sinful.Kindly written !Thank you, Hilda. I agree that it is a shame how we have become. If only we could put others before ourselves more often, the world would be a far better place.
Nice thoughtful piece, thanks for sharing,CarolThanks, Carol.
Hi George.
In my personal experience, this is not a new thing. In 1966 when I was 14 years old, it was discovered that the reason I was sick all the time was because I am allergic to tobacco and my parents smoked ... a lot. When they were told that they had to remove all tobacco from the house, smoke outside, clean all the draperies and carpeting, paint, etc., they refused to do any of it. There was no fix for my allergy and I continued to suffer.
People are always going to put their personal comfort above that of others ... except for a very few. I still believe that people are basically good, but it is tempered by a lot of experience over the years and I've learned not to have expectations about the behavior of others.
I've often said that the best gift I can give to others is to take the best care of myself that I can emotionally, physically and financially so that they do not have to worry or feel that they must step in. Obviously, not everyone is able to do that and there have been times when I have failed myself. I'm all for charity and Bernd and I do what we can when we can. But I am very careful about what I will and will not sacrifice.
I understand what you are saying, though. And this isn't really a criticism ... just a different point of view that might mainly be semantic. It seems to me that what you are really talking about is compassion. I do honestly think that the world could do with a little more of that. If more people had real compassion (instead of doing their yearly or whatever duty of donating to charities) for those who are suffering, then things would begin to change. If you truly cared for the people dying in wars, then you would stop fighting them. If you realized that they were just like you and only wanted the same things you wanted ... enough food to eat, a safe and warm place to sleep ... then real change might happen.
Well, I think I've said enough ... more than enough probably.
Thanks for making me think.
Hugs and Happy New Year,
DianneHmm, you've given me much to think about, Dianne. I appeciate your perspective and your comments. And, yes, compassion is often what drives sacrifice. But I think I lament even more the short-sightedness that prevails where people can see only what they stand to gain or lose and not what might be in the long-term best interest of the world and the people to come. Why else would we build mansions to ourselves but insist that public buildings such as schools, churches, government buildings, etc., be as small and simple as possible?Many people are shortsighted. That's for sure. I know a lot of people who think nothing of driving to the store several times a day for this or that little thing that they have decided they wanted instead of planning ahead or putting it off until they can combine errands into one outing. It uses resources and pollutes unnecessarily. The short term gratification of their desire helps to create a greater problem down the road. That's a rather gross example but I bet you get my drift.
Discretionary money ... we always want to get the most we can for our hard earned dollars. When we have some say in how it is spent, we are happier. So maybe we build ourselves a very nice house. When we don't really have a say, we want it to be spent as wisely as possible. I think it is fitting that buildings put up with tax dollars are not extravagant. If they were, to me it would be as with monarchies building grand edifices to glorify themselves with the monies they have garnished from the peons. It would just make me angry. Maybe I have an odd way of looking at things. But I personally live in a very modest house that is smaller in square footage than the average home. It is not fancy and I've no need for it to be. The outside isn't particularly pretty with fine architecture, but I keep it neat because that is respectful of my neighbors. I've drifted off point, but I tend to do that. :)
Government buildings that are small and plain are fine as long as they serve well the purpose for which they were constructed. Why would we need more. I feel that way about personal housing as well, but many others do not. They feel their home communicates something basic about them as a person and this effects the appearance of their home. If people want to judge me based on the house in which I live, well that is their problem.
I've mentioned in other comments to other authors the Navajos who live in Arizona. They have a mindset that says to have great personal wealth (and mind you that might mean having a few more goats than your cousin) while those around you are struggling is wrong and goes against the teachings of the Creator. It is somewhat embarrassing to be wealthy. Is this more what you are thinking about. That we should all always be thinking of others ... possibly before thinking of ourselves. When does self sacrifice become martyrdom? What happens when not thinking of yourself first ... taking care of yourself first ... gets you into so much trouble that you must depend upon the charity of others? Does this increase the total burden on the population?
I consider myself to be a compassionate person and I always offer help where it is needed when I am able. But a line has to be drawn somewhere. Boundaries have to be established or we lose ourselves in the confusion and then nothing really productive may be achieved.
Well, you did it again. Got me thinking hard. :)
Hugs,
DianneHey, Dianne, I didn't mean to make your head hurt. :) But you have made some good points here. And, no, sacrifice should not lead to martyrdom or poverty, unless, of course it is done with purpose on purpose. If I choose to give all I have to someone in order to live a life of poverty, then that is my choice. The comment on houses vs. government, church, school buildings is an example of our priorities, which tend to skew toward personal gratification instead of the greater good of all. I don't think such buildings should be grandiose, though I am always impressed by the grand old cathedrals and museums that people often helped build knowing they would never use or see the completed structure. I do think we should get back to considering what it good for all, or at least the vast majority, before addressing our needs. Maybe, though, I'm just being altruistic, unrealistic and too idealistic. In any case, I don't want you or anyone to lose themselves in sacrifice or charity, only to return to considering the greater good over personal gain. As always, thanks for commenting and for making me think too.
hellow george ,hope you are doin well, i say lets sacrifice fr a change,lets listen to our hearts nd all those that beat along us fr a change,lets try nd think whats best fr us nd others,lets try to knw other peoples perspective,religion,lets test what we believe,lets try nd sacrifice:)
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