It has been several months since my last blog. My world has been filled with ups and downs, ins and outs. I have tried to find a rhythm in life that works, but it seems to be ever elusive. My work has been focused on trying to create a movement that would have an impact on the culture, an effect on our society.
Much to my dismay, progress has been slow and roadblocks have been many. The road to significance is often an up hill climb.
Yet, on the journey, there are so many wonderful nuggets of wisdom and knowledge that we gain if we are just willing to take our eyes off of ourselves. I learn more by chance than I do by intention. For example, ever since the TV show, Oprah’s Big Give, many people have started to see me as a philanthropist. I started to wonder what that meant and who is truly a philanthropist. In fact, I wondered what philanthropist meant.
So I started on the Internet and I typed into Google, “P-H-I-L-A-N-T-H-R-O-P-I-S-T”
Word: Philanthropist
Form: Noun
Definition: One who practices Philanthropy.
Don’t you just love Webster’s? I obviously clicked on Philanthropy to find out it’s meaning.
Word: Philanthropy
Form: Noun
Definition: A philanthropic act or gift: An organization distributing or supported by philanthropic funds
By this time, frustration started to set in. But I suddenly realized that this was the general understanding in our society about what it means to be a philanthropist. You are either giving money or receiving money to do something that seemed to have some value. In fact, Google took me one step further as I clicked on philanthropic.
Word: Philanthropic
Form: Adjective
Definition: Dispensing or receiving aid from funds set aside for humanitarian purposes
And, finally:
Word: Humanitarian
Form: Noun
Definition: a person promoting human welfare and social reform.
After a few minutes of allowing my aggravation with the circular definitions of all the words settle, I began to wonder if being a philanthropist, as defined in Webster’s and by our society was really something to strive for. At the end of the day, was being a philanthropist about this never ending circle of giving money and receiving money. And was the purpose of those receiving the money just to promote human welfare and change or was it actually the act of causing human change and improving the welfare of others?
Let’s be honest, when anyone is asked who is the greatest philanthropist of our day, the names that come up are: Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet, maybe even Bono or Oprah Winfrey. All of them certainly take part in philanthropic endeavors giving money and promoting human welfare. Who better to promote change than Oprah or the billions of dollars that Bill and Melinda plan to give away. But if that is the only measure of philanthropy, then you and me and 99.999% of the world have almost no shot of ever becoming a great philanthropist. I started to become depressed and thought that I was a hypocrite to even consider myself a philanthropist.
Was philanthropy really just about money? Was a philanthropist only defined by the amount of money he/she gave or the amount of money he/she received from the givers, or, was there more to it?
I dug a little deeper into Google. I wanted to know, not what we believe philanthropy to mean, but rather what was at the root of philanthropy; what was at the heart of being a philanthropist.
Philanthropy developed from the Greek language with two roots:
PHILIEN ("to love") and ANTHROPOS ("mankind").
Putting those two roots together creates the true meaning of philanthropy, “to Love mankind”.
As I read this definition, my heart began to swell. It is no longer just the Bill Gates and Warren Buffets of the world who are capable of being philanthropists, but each and every one of us has the capacity to be a great philanthropist. But are we?
As I look around the world and around my community, I do not see philanthropists, in fact what I see is a world defined by another word: narcissist.
Word: Narcissist
Form: Noun
Definition: A person with excessive love or admiration of oneself
The world around us is shaped by the dominant culture. Our media, our politics, our way of life is determined by we hold dear as a society. The challenges we face as a nation are the challenges we all created by the way we have lived in the world. The narcissist sees the world as a place that serves them and their needs. A philanthropist sees the world as a place they can serve and meet the needs of others. The culture created by the narcissist depletes the resources of the universe in an effort to feed the excessive self-love and individual admiration. The philanthropic culture replenishes the universe by giving back the gifts we have been given as individuals and using those gifts for the love and service of our fellow man. Using our lives in a philanthropic way.
As I try to navigate my way through this narcissistic world, I find myself tired and drained by a culture that is always trying to take. I wonder what life might be like if we lived in a philanthropic culture. A place where all of us were giving back to one another and building each other up because of our love for mankind and God’s creation that surrounds us. In no way should this undermine individual achievement or personal goals. We all should strive to maximize the talents we have been given. But are the successes we have only meant for the benefit of ourselves? Or, could we possibly change our culture and use the successes in our lives for the significant love and service of others?
The road to significance is a road of change. Not just personal change, but cultural change. Are we prepared as a society to travel the road to significance? If we do, we will change the culture from success to significance, from selfish to service, from narcissistic to philanthropic. The road to significance is a journey through our culture, hopefully changing it along the way.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Thinking about philanthropy as "loving mankind" is perfect. It is so easy to get disenchanted by the sense that giving money away is superficial, and does not truly meet human needs. I really want to believe that we will shift from a narcissistic culture. The lack of fulfillment or happiness that comes from a narcissistic life will force us to find another way to be. Thanks for this post.
Great post Stephen. I think the word philanthropy has lost significance both to people who have a lot of money and those that do not. A recent study from the University of Pennsylvania found donors who give over $1 million a year did not think of themselves as "philanthropists".
I've been writing about some of these issues on my blog Tactical Philanthropy. Recently we discussed what other words might be more relevant. Thanks for adding to the discussion!
We'd like to start a program in our community where we begin to challenge them to serve one another (like having little "big give" type of challenges, haha). We tried to join a church to possibly partner with our passion, but we find ourselves extremely limited by a church and don't want limitations.
To "Love Mankind" is such a beautiful description to such passion. If you have any advice on starting such a program, please email us! daveandsandi@gmail.com We feel that the current economic times are an opportunity for those of us in this endeavor! Bless you in your passions, we're praying for you and we hold you up in Unity of the common mission of "Loving our Neighbors as Ourselves"...no matter what! And hopefully inspiring others to do the same.
I really enjoyed watching your endeavors last summer on The Big Give, Stephen, and was pleased to see an article about you yesterday on the FCA website. That site led me to your website and blog. Ironically, my son had a vocabulary word to study last week -- "philanthropist." Thankfully, his book's definition was, "a lover of mankind, especially through charitable gifts and deeds." While your journey sounds like its all up hill right now, please be encouraged. Your love and servant's heart for God not only shown through during The Big Give, but will continue to shine as you seek Him through this next leg. Remember Joshua 1:9 -- "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." And on this journey, isn't it comforting to know that you're being led by the One Who is Love! What better philanthropic leader than that!
Hello Stephen, Every person needs to know their capacity to be philanthropic. Therein lies the answer. Whether it is a little or alot, knowing the value of a gift of time, or money, or caring is an elusive thing. For me, it is so exciting to be involved in things that bring hope and happiness. I have discovered that things happen for a reason and good things happen to good people. (You won for a reason, and you can consider yourself a good person!) So keep looking forward! Things really do happen for a reason, paths cross for a reason. My favorite word is per⋅se⋅ver⋅ance; Pronunciation [pur-suh-veer-uhns]noun 1. steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.
2. Theology. continuance in a state of grace to the end, leading to eternal salvation.
For over 35 years (since I was 10), I have loved being needed...and now I find my interests only gravitate to projects that help others where I know I can make a difference, where I'm truly enjoying sharing my gifts, my art, my ability. No matter how small. My biggest challenge - some of the greatest ideas, inventions, life altering gifts are not heard, because money or power is not available to the giver. It's so sad....but, I will persevere and help those ideas be heard, and they will make a difference, no matter how long it takes! I look forward to one day soon knowing I may have helped you knock down a road block and help push you up that hill! I applaud your efforts.
I have no idea if you'll ever see this comment but I have to say that I LOVE this post. I will never have millions to give away but I have time- and time is every bit as valueable.
One can give away funds to philanthropic organizations without ever experiencing any emotional change- the act itself is not necessarily philanthropic (tax deductions, good press etc.) but can often be narcissistic (I am such a good person because...). I know, narcissism and philanthropy frequently coexist- a single act can be BOTH of those things.
However, giving of your time is giving of yourself and it's much more difficult to do that with any sort of cool detachment. I think when we dedicate ourselves to be a Humanitarian (much better word), it's a process. When I give of my time now I try to do so in ways that others don't know I do it. This is to keep my own intentions in check. I once recieved a lot of press about a philanthropic endeavor I headed up and it went to my head. I've since learned that, for me, it's easiest to keep my perspective and intentions focused when I serve without recognition.
That may not apply to you when you lead an organization but certainly to me now that I am merely involved with organizations created by others.
Post a Comment