Compassionate and Selfish

Greetings and welcome back to Consumers and Creators! If you are new to C&C, you can check out my Start Here post.  We are slowly working our way around the Creator’s Wheel, but just before we get started, below are links to the areas we've discussed to date if you need to get caught up:

Creators are Responsible and Consumers are Victimized
Creators are Honest and Consumers are Defensive
Creators are Encouraging and Consumers are Judgmental 
Creators are Lean and Consumers are Wasteful
Creators are Disciplined and Consumers are Negligent 

Today we’ll continue working our way around the wheel by looking at the compassionate trait of the creator and contrasting it to the selfish trait of the consumer, so let’s get started.

There is a branch in the earth that I encounter every day.  No, it’s not a proverbial branch, it is an actual stick in my backyard.  It reaches high above the other foliage on my back hill.  It appears to have some sort of root system since it remains upright, but doesn’t sprout or bloom anything.  The stick abides.

I look out the window every morning at this thing, not to watch the stick itself, but rather to watch the insane drama that the stick creates throughout the day.  You see, despite our house abutting a farm surrounded by lush trees too numerous to count, every bird in the greater tristate area wants to stand atop the stick.  It gets pretty nasty.  There’s biting and clawing and… oh yes… feather pulling, too.  You can see some of this going down in the picture above.  It’s all quiet comical until you start to think, 'is our culture really that different?' (Ok, so the stick just became proverbial)

Selfishness is a consumer characteristic and is a particular stumbling block for those who choose to be creators.  Why?  Because we creators are innately driven to produce something whether it’s financial independence, or a new product or service.  But being so desperately proactive and productive can make us competitive and stingy, leaving bodies in the wake.  This is why the grateful hallmark is such a vital part of the creator life.

So, when you start digging your first garden in your backyard and are all juiced up on creator adrenaline it will inevitably happen.  An email will come in letting you know that a friend is moving today and needs help.

You have a choice, do you show compassion and help the person in need or do you selfishly hoard your energy for your own project?  To help make that decision, we need to step back and ask ourselves an important question:

“As a creator, what am I creating?”

Are you creating neat little projects to build your own little empire of awesomeness?  Does your own project success come before helping others achieve success?  I hope this question helps you realize that you are creating value in your own life and the lives of those around you.  So helping a friend move may not seem measurably productive.  It certainly won’t make for an artsy Instagram photo.  But, it might just be the best value you can produce with your day.

This is the very reason frugalness or financial independence don’t have a place on the Creator’s Wheel.  Once amassing money becomes a goal, selfishness and greed start setting in and you find yourself back in the grasps of consumer behaviors.  Instead, we creators stay lean, but also grateful, compassionate, and generous.

This reminds me of a quote from the Bible I learned when I was young:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

So next time you see the stick, let the other birds fight for it, or better yet, help another bird have his turn atop the field.  Remember, we weren't created to make the world a better place for ourselves.  Look for the needs in others.  The creator grows.