Jack, Charles, and Henry — three successful business colleagues — go out on a rowing trip. One is a financier, another a high-tech executive, and the third a prominent attorney. As they row across the water, Jack suddenly falls out of the boat.
Charles and Henry panic. They stretch out their hands and cry, “Jack, give me your hand! Give me your hand!” But Jack doesn’t respond.
Then Charles changes his words. “Take my hand!” Immediately Jack grabs hold, and they pull him to safety.
Henry turns to Charles, puzzled. Charles smiles and says, “You have to understand — Jack doesn’t know how to give. He only knows how to take.”
And that raises a profound question for each of us: Are we takers, or are we givers?
It’s not an easy question. We live in a world driven by survival, competition, and self-interest. We are conditioned to believe that the more we take, the more secure and successful we become.
But perhaps the opposite is true.
Perhaps the tragedy of being a taker is not only what it does to others — but what it does to us. Because when you only take, you never truly discover who you are.
Giving is not weakness. Giving is the ultimate expression of strength. It is the way we actualize our deepest potential. A giver is not defined by what they lack, but by what they possess within — the ability to contribute, to nurture, to illuminate, to transform. The more you give, the more you become.
Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson in this vital discussion and discover: How do we move from being consumers of life to creators of life? From takers to givers?
And that makes all the difference. That change of attitude and direction — from the inside out, instead of the outside in — changes everything.
