An old Cherokee told his grandson, “My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, humility, kindness, empathy and truth.”
The boy thought about it for a moment, and asked, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?”
The old man quietly replied, “The one you feed.”
How do children learn which wolf to feed and how? They learn by seeing and imitating their elders - especially their parents and teachers. We live in a world that prizes competition, self-sufficiency, independence, and self-reliance. The educational system itself is such that students learn to compete rather than collaborate, to seek what they can get rather than what they can give. The situation in society - communalism, internal displacement and immigrants issue, fundamentalism, tribalism - leads us to view the other with suspicion. Of course, many schools take great pains to ensure that students learn to collaborate and inculcate values that enable them to grow up as noble citizens. Many parents too take trouble to bring up their children in the right path. However, a lot more could be done by children and elders to transform the face of society - even if they be small drops in a mighty ocean.
One of the values that we would like children to inculcate is the virtue of “giving”. An ability to share what one has with others - to give and not count the cost; to give even when it hurts. We give, or teach our children to give, when situations like natural disasters, etc. take place. Though giving is not to be limited to a particular day in the year, a celebration of giving certainly has formative value.
In India, this festival of giving is celebrated as “The Joy of Giving Week” (JGW), in the week that includes Gandhi Jayanti, i.e., October 2 to 8. Launched in 2009, this festival bring together Indians from all walks of life to celebrate “giving”. It is a platform for all across the country to celebrate the joy in giving back to society. Everyone can reach out to someone less privileged - by donating money, volunteering time, providing your skills or even just saying a kind word to someone who may not have expected it from you.
The Joy of Giving website says, “From auto drivers to CEOs, school children to celebrities, homemakers to opinion leaders, millions of people give their time, money, resources or skills back to society- by creating or participating in “events” of their choice. A giving event could be as simple as a family taking out the maid’s children for an ice-cream party, or as large as the Design For Change Contest that had 200,000+ school children across India participating and volunteering to make a difference.”
Events can be organized by an individual or group of persons - social groups, schools, colleges, NGOs, corporates, media houses, etc. In JGW 2011, more than one million people participated in over 600 events across 60+ cities, raising about Rs. 30 Crores and resources donated, and millions of volunteer hours.
The JGW website tracing the origin of this celebration says, “Several people have come together on this idea, and it is impossible to attribute ownership to anyone! Internationally, CAF in UK celebrated National Giving Week for 3 years. Australia, Canada and several other countries have piloted Giving Days or Weeks. Jeroninio Almeida, founder of iCongo and then at ActionAid conceptualised a World Social Giving Day and campaigns titled “Karma Mitra” and “Joy of Giving”. A meeting in 2005 between the CEOs of CRY, GiveIndia, Helpage and others brainstormed on the idea of a National Philanthropy Week. Finally, between Nov 2008 and Feb 2009, several individuals, NGO leaders and others got together and decided to launch an “India Giving Week”, that would be an open platform encouraging everyone in India to give back. Specific events were identified, such as Riverside School’s Design for Change contest, Goonj’s Vastrasamman Campaign, Toofles’ Style for Smiles CEO Ramp Walk event, JAM Magazine’s college Joyfest, the Battle of the Buffet in Chennai, etc. The advertising agency, EuroRSCG India, on a pro bono basis, created the “Joy of Giving Week” brand identity in March 2009.”
No one owns the Joy of Giving Week. It is designed as a festival of giving, and like Diwali or Dussera, the plan is for it to eventually have no owners! However, in the initial formative years, to give it a sense of shape, a group of core volunteers manages the JGW campaign, defines guidelines for participation and evangelises the effort.
For more information visit the website: http://joyofgivingweek.ning.com/ or catch it on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joyofgivingweek
Individual students or schools and colleges can organize events to mark this week. Students can volunteer with their time, or make a collection for a cause, or organize a sale, the proceeds of which could be given to a charity, or any such other activity. You will find a lot of ideas on the website. Students of Loyola School, Jakhama in Nagaland did ordinary things like cleaning the houses of the elderly people in the village, buying provisions with their pocket money for aged, coaching younger students, cleaning public places in the village, giving company to the sick, etc. The focus is on the positive feeling of joy experienced in the giving. An experience that one can cherish as well as motivate more giving.
The Joy of Giving celebration can become a means for us to teach our children to feed the right wolf. And to realize that “there is more joy in giving than in receiving”.