Why do heaven and earth last forever?
They do not live for themselves only.
This is the secret of their durability.
For this reason the sage puts himself last
and so ends up ahead.
He stays a witness to life,
so he endures.
Serve the needs of others,
and all your own needs will be fulfilled.
Through selfless actions, fulfillment is attained.
When I was working at the homeless shelter a volunteer came to help me with my paperwork filing. She was a regular volunteer and I enjoyed her company. We would often talk about her travels with her husband in their RV, which she did often since he retired.
On this day she told me about a time when a homeless man came to her camper at a gas station. He was dirty and smelled like alcohol. She could tell he'd been drinking. He asked her for money. She asked me if I would have given the homeless man the money. I said yes. She looked concerned and said, "But he's sure to buy more alcohol with it. He'll just get drunk." I said, "Probably, but if I lived on the streets and slept in the dirt then I'd want to be drunk too." She said, "But you aren't helping him to stop drinking. You aren't helping him not be homeless." I said, "But that's not what he asked me for."
Maybe sometimes we are meant to just give someone what they ask for, not what we think they need.
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