What you have to give to others…

The title of this article is, by intent, a double entendre. That’s a fancy phrase from 17th century French for a word or phrase that is open to two meanings.

In our case the word have can mean “what you possess,” and so the phrase would mean, “What you have in your possession that you can give to other people.”

Or the word have could be translated as an obligation, so you “must” (have to) give something to others.

In point of fact, both should be true. But you may not be aware that you have this particular thing to give or that you should give it. I was reminded of both senses of this today as I watched a webinar on selling books, which of course had a great deal in it about writing books.

If you’ve thought about book writing, you’ll know that Question #1 is: What should I write?

The simple answer is that most writers write about things they know a lot about. C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia, including The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe), and J. R. R. Tolkien (The Hobbit; The Lord of the Rings) both wrote fantasy books that are still popular many decades after they were written. Both had grown up reading fantasy and had developed a love for it. C. S. Lewis, a professor of English literature, also wrote non-fiction, and did that with great success.

My favorite comedy writer, P. G. Wodehouse (pronounced wood-house), wrote novels, short stories, and the lyrics for a lot of musical theater shows. An Austrian psychiatrist, neurologist, and Holocaust survivor named Viktor Frankl wrote one of the best selling books of all time called Man’s Search for Meaning.

Many writers, the cynics say, only write for money. I’ve met one or two who have done that, but the vast majority of writers write because they truly want to share what they have learned.

Dave Ramsey

I’ve never met Dave Ramsey, but I’m a fan because of all the good he has done and continues to do. You might recognize the name, and If so you’ll probably know he’s one of the great personal financial consultants of our time. Not that any of us need any advice on financial matters. (Just kidding.)

What you might not know about Dave Ramsey is that before he became famous for helping people with their finances, he needed someone to help him. In the middle 1980’s he built up a portfolio of real estate holdings, but those holdings were highly leveraged. That means he borrowed a lot of money to buy a lot of properties. All was fine until the company he owed the money to (lots of money) was purchased by another company that called in the debt Dave Ramsey now owed them.

In 1988, unable to pay back the loans, future financial guru Dave Ramsey declared bankruptcy. He was broke, both on paper and in real life. Apparently repossession agents came to their house and took everything they could, including his daughter’s swing set. The fall was rapid and it was steep, but Dave wasn’t done. He started rebuilding his personal finances, and while he was doing that he learned that friends at church needed help on the same topic. He began to give it.

In 1992, he wrote and self-published a book called Financial Peace. It contained his wisdom, his experiences, and a path to (you guessed it) financial peace. It was not a best seller, but it was a much needed resource.

Like all the other authors, he wrote about what he knew about inside and out. And he wrote it in a way that was readable and accessible, because he wrote it to help other people.

Who can help other people? Those who have been through the fire. Dave Ramsey had been through the fire of broken personal finances. Viktor Frankl had been through the fire of Nazi concentration camps. Your own fire might be different than theirs. Maybe you survived a terrible illness. Perhaps you suffered an unthinkable loss. Like my good friend Tracy Hanson, you might have been a victim while being convinced you were the problem — essentially trapped between two fires.

This concept of helping from hurt is not new, and not even modern. It’s in the Bible, and surely somewhere in Shakespeare. Your pain can be redeemed by using it to help others.

Doing Good

It isn’t only the painful times in our lives that help us help others, it is also the good times. If you’ve had great success in leadership, in sports, in relationships, in business, others will want to hear about that as well.

The idea, of course, is that you take stock of your life and your life experiences. Whether you have come through the fire or come through life unscathed, other people need to hear your story. And one of the very best ways you can do good is to tell that story to people who need it.

As you investigate your life, pay attention to how you reacted to both the bad and the good times, the joys and the sorrows. Look at how you looked at the world around you. Think about how you thought. Feel what you felt. No one else is you, but I’ve learned that experiences are often shared.

As for me, I have learned much from my philosophical ancestor Benjamin Franklin, and most of that since I started Do Good U. Here’s something he wrote:

[I believe] “That there is one God, who made all things. That he governs the world by his providence. That he ought to be worshiped by adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving. But that the most acceptable service to God is doing good to man. That the soul is immortal. And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here or hereafter.”

What do you have to give to others? Good from the bad you’ve survived; good from the good you’ve enjoyed.

And so do I.

Do good! It is in you.