From Thanks to Giving

While I realize that only a portion of the world is celebrating Thanksgiving today, I know that our digital presence grows global and think that every day should be one in which we are grateful to all we have. Human behavior is so interesting in that we learn to appreciate these concepts as we mature in large steps. I still recall being a young student with some huge and ambitious dreams which I look back now and consider most being selfish. However, as life happened and I was hit hard by it, I learned to become more humble and not only consider others but appreciate the life we each have.

I know that this is easy for me to say given where I am in my life but it makes me realize even more how luck I am. I avoid try to want more and instead enjoy appreciating what I have more often than not. It is also what I try to demonstrate to my young family as it can be very easy for them to forget that life is not easy for everyone and many more are less lucky than ourselves. Every time I can get them a gift as we approach that time of year, I tell the family that we need to be grateful that we can have the experiences now as things can change very quickly to not enable us to do so.

As I have been with the family this week, I have found myself looking at the next phase of my maturity which is now more towards giving. While this time of year reminds me of giving, it has mostly been to the Holidays season and to my family and friends. However, as I see more disparities across the world thanks to our reach within the digital networks we engage with, I can see how much giving is needed around the world. I have started to consider how I can get more involved with philanthropy even though I know I cannot really make a huge difference.

I have made charitable contributions in the past but have never been consistent in amount, cadence, or the organization. I often add $1 to retail purchases I make to also contribute but know that most of those non-profit organizations do not do a very good job in getting funds to the end beneficiaries given the costs they often run in the organizations. I saw it back home in Puerto Rico when Hurricane Maria hit and almost billions were given to those in need but very little reached them even years after the event. While it is not the subject of today, blockchain is surely a way to improve these charitable funding events in the future.

Right now I am looking to an organization that helped me when I was a teenager as I was struggling to be on a good path in life. It was a place that really got me the start of my discipline that set the tone to my academic focus for years that followed. They have been one of those in which I have kept in touch with for years as I can definitely attribute my career and learning to those experiences. They continue to be involved with those like me who had paths to choose from in a difficult place so I would like fo them to find more like me to help out and provide a better path for.

As I venture into this next phase, I want to not forget to give thanks to all the experiences and people that have been a part of this journey. This includes the great community here on Steem which have been a part of it and instrumental to these concepts that I think about as I continue to learn about so many other communities around the world. Being grateful is only the beginning to being able to take the next step and giving back. I relate this a lot to what we do here on Steem with our stakes and so consider it to be a great place to share these thoughts as we continue to build the ecosystem with so much potential. Look forward to the future!

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