The Sunday Mail
THE festive season is upon us and before we realise it, it will be gone. December is generally a month in which many people get to celebrate life and achievements of the year in different ways.
Changing Perspectives
Rutendo Gwatidzo
Some go for shopping while others go on holiday. Some invest in fancy foods while others get to spend time with family and beloved ones. There are many ways of celebrating.
Did you know
While others will be celebrating life, feasting or exchanging gifts, others will be mourning or sleeping on empty stomachs. The only common thing we all probably get to celebrate will be the ending of another year, and the dawn of a fresh one, if we make it into 2024. The Bible, in Romans 12:15-18, encourages us to mourn with those mourning and to rejoice with those rejoicing.
According to the Oxford dictionary, caring is displaying kindness and concern for others. When you care for others, you get to share what you have with those without. You share not necessarily out of abundance but out of a caring heart.
Sharing is a simple concept, where one gives what he or she has to someone else. It can be monetary or non-monetary. In the name of not having money, many people have become stingy and inhuman. They think that it only takes money for one to be able to give.
In fact, it only takes a willing heart and a benevolent attitude to share something good. Recently, I came across different scenarios involving people without caring hearts, and I wondered where the world is going. One lady was eating and beside her was someone she knew, who was really starving. A young man was climbing the stairs, watching an old woman he knew struggling to go up the stairs with a heavy parcel. The lifts were not working and people had to use the stairs.
Another scenario was that of someone who was getting lost on the road and he tried to ask for directions from a group of young men, but they refused to assist him. All the scenarios I have cited did not require money, but caring hearts only.
Organisational status
While an organisation is a business place where people meet to transact, it is also a place where people get to create long-term relations. I know of many people who fell in love at the workplace, got married and established beautiful families. Some connected and started beneficial partnerships together. There are also others who built long-term friendships with workplace people. A little kindness even at the workplace can save you from many troubles. Some team members find it hard to be nice and accommodative to others.
I know of people who enjoy making life difficult for others at the workplace. It is as if they exist to cripple others. In the organisational context, sharing applies to knowledge and resources as well. When you care about the organisation, you will understand that its success depends on the team members and it takes collaboration and teamwork to successfully achieve organisational goals.
Instead of wanting to be the only one who does well in the organisation, try to equip others with skills so that they do well and together you achieve much more.
General facts
The benefits of sharing extend beyond the immediate exchange of, say, items. They benefit both the giver and the receiver. When you share, you experience the joy of giving. Contributing to the well-being of others improves your self-worthy. For the receiver, getting something tangible or intangible sparks feelings of joy and appreciation.
There is something interesting about the African philosophy of Ubuntu. In one of the South African tribes, when someone does something wrong, he or she is taken to the village court. The person is then given two days to speak about all the good or bad things he or she has done. The tribe believes each person is good but sometimes people make mistakes, which are really a cry for help. They unite to reconnect the person with his or her good nature by sharing good information about that individual.
Everyone can share something good. Obviously, when we talk of sharing, focus is on what is good. Sharing can be about anything; it is simply a culture that people need to adopt and become deliberate about.
Small acts of kindness can change someone’s life for the better, for good. In this festive season, I would like to encourage everyone reading this article to do something good. Go an extra mile in terms of sharing what you have with someone in your family, workplace, church or community. Find a few people to bless in different ways. Be intentional about making someone happy and giving someone a good testimony before the year ends.
If we all commit to make someone smile before the year ends, to share what we have with others, to make a positive impact through giving, to assist others in every way possible and to focus on the positives rather than the negatives, we will all end the year on a good note.
This will make it easy to then start another year on a good note.
Be inspired, challenged and encouraged to share something good with as many people as you can before the year ends. We have what it takes to make this world a better place.
Rutendo Gwatidzo is the managing consultant at The HUB HR Consultancy. She is a multi-award-winning leader, consultant, speaker and coach. She is also an author of two books: “Born to Fight” and “Breaking the Silence”. Contact detail: 0714575805/ [email protected] / Rutendo Gwatidzo_Official FB public page
