Contribution is amazing
Once upon a time after I graduated from six years of University, I lived with my parents. Nice house. Ready food. No bills. The ease and comfort were intoxicating.
Then my mother gave me one week’s ultimatum to move out.
It was as if she had thrown a cold bucket of water over me. The shock to my oh-so-easy life.
Yet it was exactly what I needed.
It was time for me to become an adult, to step up. To stop being a taker and start being a contributor.
Becoming an adult implies responsibility. We can see responsibility as a burden or a path to increased choice-making over time.
Becoming an adult means we do not take, take, take. It means we see that our taking comes at the cost of another.
Contribution is amazing. It allows us to be a part of a greater whole. It states our position as someone who is valuable, as well as being valued. Washing dishes and cleaning floors is a statement in a household of a collective sense of sharing space. It says I care about your space as well as mine.
Voting and paying taxes is a statement of our collective citizenry. Not throwing rubbish out of the car window or leaving it on the beach says that I am part of something and that I respect the person who will arrive after me.
Contribution is not a statement of gender or roles. It is a demonstration of belonging to a community.
Photo Taken March 5th 2023
