4 minute read
Generosity is the beginning of everything
On June 23rd 2018, twelve boys who were members of a football team and their coach became trapped while exploring a cave complex in the northern province of Chiang Rai in Thailand. Thailand’s rainy season produced a sudden downpour that flooded the tunnels while they were inside, leaving them no way of getting out.
Rescue workers from all over the world soon gathered to attempt to save them from drowning, starving or running out of air in the deep, dark caverns. The rescue required unique skills of diving into the water-filled caverns of the cave network using aqua-lung breathing equipment. Amongst the hundreds who volunteered to help in this work was former Thai navy SEAL (Sea, Air and Land), Sargent Saman Kunan, who died during an attempt to install a chain of oxygen tanks deep within the cave system. Former Sargent Saman was given a hero's funeral in Thailand, and deservedly so.
In the film, The Rescue, about this remarkable story, Sargent Kunan’s heartbroken wife, declared, ‘Generosity is the beginning of everything,’. The film's producers are clear "that’s ultimately what the film is about.”
From the horrendous depths of her grieving, Sargent Kunan’s wife acknowledged that her beloved husband had paid the ultimate price of being a person who put others first, even at the risk of his own life. From the depths of that agony, she shared what I also have come to believe through my time in the nonprofit sector. Generosity is the beginning of everything. If we stop our hectic chase for more things for just a short while, soon we start to see how so much of what we already have has been generously given to us in one way or another.
No education we have had was not preceded by self-sacrifice and giving on the part of our parents. No freedoms we enjoy were not preceded by self-sacrifice and giving on the part of our forefathers and mothers. At no time in our lives can we say we are happy, delighted, joyous, or even at peace without having arrived at such a point because of some level of self-sacrifice and generous giving by others before us.
Likewise, no amount of money in our bank accounts has arrived there without there having been a trail of self-sacrifice and giving by others so that we could be better off financially.
The Thai people have already erected a statue of Sargent Saman Kunan. I would most definitely stand in front of his statue and salute him. He has set a standard of generosity that expresses what it is to be truly human.
When Sargent Kunan's wife spoke those words about her husband, she was not just declaring the vast depths of her love for him. I believe she was making a statement about the hearts of all humankind once the shallow stuff of life is removed. For me, her words had echoes of those of my grandmother;
Malcolm, others matter more than self.
Citizen Generosity has its roots there. In the moments when we realise how much has been given to us and for us. Moments when we start to get a glimpse of what others have sacrificed on our behalf. Moments that might shock and distress us. Moments that might, at the very least, shake us. It's at such times that innate citizen generosity can bubble up into our souls and prompt us to give back. To share. To uphold. To uplift. To share our blessings.
I have found that such citizen generosity is abundant when you know how and where to find and release it.
