“The gift, to be true, must be the flowing of the giver unto me, correspondent to my flowing unto him.”~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friends ask me for connections and help just about every day of the year. I offer that help happily most of the time. Genuinely. I love it. It’s a pleasure and honor being able to be a connector.

And I reach out to friends often.

But I can’t think of the last time most of ’em reached out, or offered help or connections to me or Elephant.

On the one hand, giving is its own reward. Giving ain’t about getting.

On the other hand, giving that’s assumed and taken for granted is, perhaps, a sign of my idiot compassion.

I’m the idiot.

Wrote this some years back.

The question: how to serve and support without being taken advantage of?

I personally and elephant generally are asked to support more individuals

(texts. Emails. FB messages. Invites. Stop n’chats. Drivebys)

and make more connections and support more causes

(Kickstarters. Vote for this or that. Publicize my event. Promote my video. Invite your friends to this good cause. Review my product. Tag my Page. Send a writer to cover this]

and businesses in a week than there are hours in a long, long day. No problem there: it’s an honor, and usually a pleasure, to be of any use.

But speaking of “use,” the concrete appreciation, love that comes back is and long has been minimal. As the Godfather said in the first scene in the first movie, if you had come to me in friendship and respect, even now…

As I grow older, I learn that friendship is mutual, or not at all.

Bonus: that first scene (unfortunately, couldn’t find the full 7 minutes)