Monologue: Mordakhay Kholdarov
I wanna talk about giving today and what it truly means to give. Say there is a poor person begging for money. Do you give money to him? Is it truly giving? Pretend someone wants your attention. Do you give it to them? Is that truly giving? By definition, giving means to provide for someone else, right? But what if the only real person you’re providing for is yourself?
Now pretend you’re a parent to a child, or an older brother or sister to a younger sibling. That younger child brings to you a not so pretty drawing they made in school. What do you say? “Oh it’s magnificent! Did you make that yourself?” Why do you say that? Because it’s the thought that matters, right? Meaning, that the end result of any action is in the initial thought. Therefore we have to look at a person’s intentions (their motives) before determining whether or not a certain action is indeed an act of giving.
Now we have to look at what motivates people to move, or to work, or to do something in general. The answer is reward, be it money, power, honor. Why do people go on strike? It’s because they don’t feel they’re being rewarded enough based on their work, hence they stop working; the motivating force (money) is not great enough to compensate their work. Is it plausible then to say that people won’t give without a reward either? Molecular psychiatry states that during an act of giving there is a release of the chemical dopamine (pleasure chemical) in the brain. Now let’s go back to the notion of the end result of any action is in the initial thought. If I initially want to be rewarded (motive) by giving (act) then aren’t I really receiving? Does the notion of giving even exist?
Now look at “non-profit” organizations and “charities”. Why hasn’t there been a decrease in poverty or famine stricken areas? Why is there so much suffering in the world despite this entire “giving” taking place? It’s because we’re exploiting each other by “giving” or “helping” because taking from someone is the reason to why you’re giving them in the first place. The reason why I’m saying this is not to shoot down charities or nonprofit organizations, but to make you guys realize that if 6.5 billion people in the world operate in a manner where they only take and don’t give, the there will be economic, familial, ecological, and many other problems persisting and getting worse and worse every day. Since I only have three minutes I’ll have to end this monologue by saying that if we understand what it means to truly give and operate in accordance with nature and its laws (mutual balance and harmony), then not only will we truly give, but much of our problems will cease exist.
