"When You Learn, Teach. When You Get, Give."

The brave and bold American poet, Maya Angelou, captured one of the most important lessons for mankind in only eight, simple words. She said this:

“When you learn, teach. When you get, give.”

The rumble of these words echo an important truth in today’s world.

“But why? Why is this message of kindness so important?” you might be wondering.

Why is it so important that we do our part to keep the flame of generosity burning brightly?

Well, here’s the short, snappy answer: because kindness is nearly extinct. Humanity is running out of it quickly. We could do with some more good deeds and selfless acts of generosity. ASAP.

... But, I doubt you clicked on this post for a short, snappy answer (at least, I hope not). So, I will try to answer that question again with a few more words.

Please, get comfortable. Pour yourself a cup of tea/coffee/lemonade and hear me out. I want to share a little story with you:

A story about why I love to teach what I learn. A story about shining rays of light in a dark world. A story about the power of kindness.

The Kindness I Received

Anyone can afford good deeds. You don’t need a single dollar to pay kindness forward. It’s free of charge. But when you look at the world we live in, you would think you have to pay an arm and a leg to show a little generosity.

But, don’t worry. Not all hope is lost, dear Reader. Where there is darkness, there must also be light.

In life, you’re sure to come across a lot of greed and selfishness, yes. But if we look close enough, we can always find small gestures of good deeds in our lives:

The young boy who helped the old lady carry her heavy groceries. The granddaughter who spent long hours at her grandmother’s bedside, sacrificing all of her time and energy to care for her.

The stranger who held the door for you. The colleague who complimented your new hairstyle. The friend who raised your spirits when you were feeling down. Acts of kindness are never too far away from us.

There’s one memory of kindness that I, myself, keep close to my heart:

The memory is from early last year. At the time, I was visiting my homeland, Congo — a huge country that lies at the heart of Africa. I returned to Congo for two reasons: partly to catch up with my family, but also to work on an on-going project to build a health centre.

The first phase of the health centre project went well and it was nice to see old faces again... The trouble began when the pandemic began sweeping through the world, leaving disaster in its path.

By early February, the coronavirus pandemic had arrived to England.

My flight was cancelled due to travel restrictions. I was stranded in Congo, with no money to return to England. Chaos ensued.

But a friend of mine helped to pull me out of that chaos. When I was broke, he sent me money to live on. He helped me get by. It was his kindness that got me through that tough time and I’ll never forget it. Not for a second.

Paying Kindness Forward

In all the time I have spent on this Earth, I’ve been fortunate enough to receive many more gestures of kindness. If I were to list all of them here, I would probably have to exceed the word count limit by at least 100,000 words. So, I’ll refrain from doing that.

But I will say this: all of the generosity that I have received over the years has helped to fuel the generosity in my own heart. It is like the domino effect. When you push one domino tile with the tip of your finger, that one tile can then go on to knock over dozens, even hundreds, of other dominoes.

When you share kindness to one person, inspired by your act, that person may then go on to share kindness with hundreds of others. Generosity can sometimes be contagious.

To echo the words of Maya Angelou once more, “When you learn, teach. When you get, give.” In the spirit of Maya Angelou, I want to pay forward all the kindness I’ve ever received.

As I mentioned before, early last year, I have been working on a project to build a community health centre in Congo. The construction for the health care centre is nearly finished. It is my hope that one day, this health centre will help to create more jobs, opportunities, relief and safe medical services for the locals. But, it is also my hope that the locals who benefit from this health centre pay kindness forward to others who need it.

When they learn kindness from the physicians working around the clock to nurse them back to health, I hope that they teach that same kindness to others.

When they open their hands to receive a dose of medicine, I hope they then go on to give a dose of love to others. Because, as Maya Angelou once said, “Love liberates. It doesn’t bind.”

When we pay kindness forward, beautiful things happen. Try it, my friend, and you’ll see.

Final Takeaway

“Why is it important that we do our part to keep the flame of generosity burning brightly?”

At the start of this post, I promised I would give you an answer to the question above and I hate to break promises. If you didn’t already discover an answer for yourself, I’ll present you with this final takeaway:

When it comes down to it, generosity and kindness are what keeps us all moving. There is more strength in the pack than there is in the lone wolf. On this earth, we have a responsibility to look after and care for one another. I think that should be enough of a reason to keep the flame of generosity burning. Wouldn’t you agree, dear Reader?