Generosity

I want to share a story with y'all. It is from my recent time in Indonesia. Let's talk.I spent about a month in total in Indonesia and along with it now becoming my second favorite Asian country, I met some awesome people. Not that it is an oddity or unusual to meet great people while traveling, this interaction was spawned from a very random exchange. So, let's start with the backstory.I had flown from Denpasar to Komodo to do some diving. If you are a diver it is definitely a must see spot. I spent about 5 days on the island before having a flight back to Denpasar. In a not so rare turn of events the flight got delayed, almost 5 hours... so the airline compensated us for the flight in the form of a voucher redeemable at a bank native to Indonesia (duh). So upon arriving back in Bali I found the bank and saw it was near Canggu, a city I would be ending my trip in. So, before arriving into Canggu I had a small "snaffu" involving me having my phone in my pocket while going into the ocean. Now phone-less I arrive in Canggu, and the start of a hectic day.After checking into my room and renting a bike I begin the search for the bank. I now only have a laptop to use maps and find my way through the city. I typically look at the route before leaving, take a few mental notes, and send off. I ride to the bank that I believe to be capable of fulfilling my request for the voucher, but in the fine print there is one bank location in which I can not redeem said coupon. So not having a phone they gave me some rough directions and again I set off. 45 minutes later and a little guidance from strangers I was not only lost, but out of gas. I also did not bring any money as I was expecting to  find the bank and redeem my "sorry we delayed your flight 5 hours" coupon. As I pushed my bike to the side of the road I was talking to someone when my paths crossed with a dutch man. He overheard my explanation of my situation and offered to give me a ride to this bank. Now the story gets even worse.As we have begun to drive to the bank and chat about life, work, and all the typical travel topics we arrive at the bank. I confidently go in ready to get my money and get back to my day. After speaking with a banker they ask for identification and me in my infinite wisdom have arrive with nothing, but said piece of paper for my money. I then explain this to Rene (dutch man whom has driven me here) and he offers to drive me to get everything sorted. To make a long story short (yeah Matt jeez get on with it), he proceeds to drive me around the next few hours back to my room, back to the bank, then to my bike. The following day we share 1 or 7 beers amongst travel stories and philosophies on education, family dynamics, and many more subjects. WHY AM I TELLING YOU ALL THIS?Generosity. The topic for today. Rene was going about his day and just so happened to overhear my story. He then took his time and money (the bike, gas) to cart me around for half a day and did this all with no expectation of anything in return. You see this is what generosity is. Its not in the giving of time and effort in EXPECTATION of getting something in return. It's in giving to give. It is in paying it forward. This is one of the beautiful lessons you learn while traveling. In the western world we often find ourselves trying to "get ahead" and often expect that people are trying to get something from us. We live in a culture where we are all striving to get ahead, have the latest and greatest, be the "best"... and in this we lose sight of such a simple thing, generosity.This is just one of so many examples that happen not just here in Southeast Asia, but all over the world. If you know me and my writing this is not a pointing of the finger of blame, or to exemplify how great of a human I am, or that the western world is a terrible place. There are good and bad people everywhere. This is just one example of the giving of time and effort that resulted in an amazing friendship in the matter of a few hours. So, the next time you're getting that coffee, or overhear a story of a rough situation all I am saying is think of this. We all are in different parts of our journey and we are all presented with different challenges each day, but we can look at an opportunity like this as an opportunity. An opportunity to not only better ourselves, but continue to help those around us, an opportunity to be better, an opportunity to show generosity. Life isn't just about winning it all for ourselves, it's about sharing it with each other whether it's in the helping of a stranger who ran out of gas, or helping someone cross the street. We need more of it...generosity, pass it on.On purpose,Matt"You do not have to be rich to be generous."