Why Do I Give? What Upset Me?

Recently friends of mine who have a theatre company received their not-for-profit status from the Internal Revenue Service. It’s a matter for much rejoicing because the IRS doesn’t hand out 501(c)3 status without a lot of work. I immediately sent them a contribution.

This was a few months ago. I never heard from them. Not a call, an email, nor a tax deduction letter. I don’t like this about myself, but it bothered me. It also made me look at why I give. One question I asked was, do I give to get thanks?

The real answer is no, I don’t. But it bothered me that they hadn’t thanked me, or acknowledged my gift for tax purposes. I had to dig deeper about what was bothering me. When I went to see a performance of theirs last night, there was a list of donors in the program. My name wasn’t there.

Some of you know that I have a lot of experience in the professional theatre. The theatre started out to be my career on earth until life made a mid-course correction for me. It took most of the first act to figure out why I was bothered by the omission.

At the reception afterward, I was finally clear enough to mention the experience without sniping. (There were layers of emotion to work through till I was clear.) I cornered one of the founders, told her my story, and finally got to the crux of the matter for me. It was one of conscience.

I said, “I don’t care if my name is listed. That’s not the point. The point is that if my gift was overlooked, what others were overlooked, and are you hurting yourself by being out of integrity in your business dealings?” The co-founder got it in one.

I give, dear one, because, like all humans, I like to give. It makes me feel good. Public acknowledgment for giving is nice, but that’s not the point. I was upset in behalf of my friends because I was worried that they’d offended other donors.

Moral of the story: look carefully at your upsets. What you think is personal might not be personal at all.

"Taxes tax me!"

“Taxes tax me!” I’m quoting my beloved. We are each working through a whole year of our little slips of paper to fill out our accountant’s form so that we can be accountable to both federal and state governments.

I have to agree. Taxes are . . . well . . . taxing. At the same time, though, attitude, my dear one, is everything. Can you make doing your taxes—dare I say it—fun?

It is said that on the way out of our bodies, we experience a “life review.” We are guided through our recent life and we get to look at our choices and their consequences. It’s a sort of Kaplan Review, like the ones they teach for the M-CATs or the SATs.

Could doing taxes be construed as a sort of mini life review?

Taxes are a time to let go. A couple of months into a new year, we get to look at where and how we’ve spent our time and our money. This also means we get to make new choices if we’re less than happy with the old ones.

Let tax time be a reminder of the good times of the previous year, and the mistakes of the previous year. Getting conscious about money isn’t always fun, but it’s always worth it.

There’s a ceremony done in many Unity Churches to celebrate New Year’s Eve. It’s called Burning Bowl. Ever since I first saw the ceremony, some twenty years ago, I do a Burning Bowl ceremony on New Year’s Eve no matter where I am. Part of the process is a letting go of all the outmoded things of the previous year. You get to make your list of letting go, and as the title of the ceremony says, burn it!

Add up those mochas and see if you want to spend your money that way this year. If so, excellent. If not, make a new choice.

Look at that spring vacation to warmer climes. That’s prime travel time—at the highest cost. What say you travel to a warmer clime during their off season? Maybe you could go skiing as well with the money you save?

Or maybe you have your mocha on M, W, F and save your T, Th mocha money for that ski holiday? The point is you get to choose.

Using the IRS as an opportunity to wake up about money is a good thing. Being conscious of how I’m spending what I have means I make more conscious, and more responsible, choices this year.

Travel between last year’s calendar—your memories of times past—and last year’s receipts. I bet you a quarter (my top bet) that the best times of your year cost little or nothing.

Enjoy those memories, dream of how to create new ones, and get those taxes done faster—and with more fun—by blessing the IRS!