Generosity

Last week's email was written from the Starbucks by my house. I write there every other Saturday morning because our house cleaners come at 8 am.

Sometimes there is a homeless person hanging around out front, sometimes they are inside. Sometimes, there is a not-totally-homeless person on a chair close to where I normally sit (he seems like he sometimes lives in a house?).

At any rate, I was sitting in a different spot, not facing west towards the Rocky Mountains but facing north, where I could see people come and go from the store.

I had just begun writing when I saw my wife come in. She was getting coffee and some snacks before she went to see her daughter and mother. I blew her a kiss and went back to writing. A few moments later, I looked up as she went back outside to give a cup of coffee and a muffin to the homeless guy out front. Then she came back inside, got her stuff, and left for her daughter's.

In that moment, I was moved to tears - literally. I retold this story this past week and was again brought to tears. You know who has never given coffee or snacks to the homeless guys in there? Me. It has never even crossed my mind! Worse, the reason I was sitting at the other table was that one of the homeless guys smelled bad enough that I just didn't want to sit and smell it for the next 90 minutes.

I am so blessed to have my wife, and so is the world, for that matter. She is a good human being.

Which brings me to generosity. Generosity is not one of the 13 Virtues of Being a Professional Worth Hiring, but it is in there. One has to be generous to listen empathetically. It takes a generous person to demonstrate good stewardship or to be compassionately collaborative. The virtues are intertwined, and can encapsulate so many different ways 'to be' in the world. The beauty of these virtues is that every person who takes these on can embody them in their own, authentic expression.

Or not...

 I hear on a regular basis from agents "complaining" about the actions of others.  It's much easier to see when others are not putting their best foot forward.  Being out of communication (not returning calls or text/email).  Having to be right and being obnoxious in getting their way.  You can come up with many examples on your own.

To be fair, in real estate we advocate for our clients - that is what we are hired to do.  The point here is that you can do it while being a good person - like displaying generosity and kindness.  

[Here is the full list of the Virtues]

By the way, my wife strongly dislikes that I am telling this story about her. From her perspective, there is no big deal about what she did. From my perspective, I have been going to that Starbucks for at least a year, and I can recall only one other time that I saw someone give something to a homeless person. It occurs to me that acts of generosity do not outnumber acts of selfishness, specifically, my selfishness. This post was to remind me not to be such an arrogant $&%^.