“It’s more blessed to give than receive” are famous words that Jesus spoke and they are a universal truth, even in today’s materialistic society. I have often wondered how I could apply this when being a tourist and taking photos of people. What I do now, is get the email of my subject and send them a copy of my pictures. When my wife and I were in Milan on our first visit I took a photo of a barista in a popular cafe and then, three years later, went back with a print to gift to the subject. When he saw me there was a flicker of recognition and he was so grateful for the photo and even brought us free drinks when we sat down for lunch. In a similar act of kindness, while in Zagreb, we offered to take our airbnb host out for coffee and we got to learn of his experience being shot during the Croatian War of Independence from 1991-95, Our host related the drama of being hit by a bullet and his story unfolds in the pages of MUTINY. The more time you spend relaxing with someone, the more you learn about them and such moments can (with a little imagination) transform them into characters in a novel. ‘Giving’ is a subtle theme in MUTINY and eluded to in this exchange in Chapter 87:
“Did you know, Chris, that ninety-eight percent of people spend ninety-eight percent of their time doing things that don’t matter? That’s a ninety-six percent failure rate or a probability of point nine-six-zero-four to be exact.”
“Wow, Ravi, your genius never fails to impress me.”
“Chris, you are now in the four percent of those who are doing, or planning to do, what really matters to bring positive change to our world. We are never remembered for how much we have, but by how much we give…”