giving

"There are many forms of hunger. There is the hunger for food, and there is a hunger for love, for purpose, for truth. There is the hunger for health, for happiness. There is the hunger for companionship, for inner peace, for the sense that we belong. There is a hunger for laughter, and there is a hunger for God. The hunger that lives in the human heart is part of the kinship that threads us all together. We are independent beings with a profound need to give and receive from each other. For what one of us is lacking, another has in abundance, whether that be a bowl of rice, a skill, a wisdom, a capacity for love, a knowledge, or a courageous heart. Our urges and our gifts, our longings and our offerings, are all needed and all are indispensable. If we are touched by the images of men, women, and children that we have seen starving for food, it is because they are a reflection of our own need. They are a reminder not only of that part of us that is hungry, but also of that part of us that needs to give in order to be whole." ~ John Robbins, "May All Be Fed"