Here to contribute

Each of us is here to contribute. We contribute to make the spaces within us and around us better than we met them.

That someone isn’t following your path doesn’t mean that they are lost. It means they are contributing differently through another path.

A blind spot I’ve seen in many, including myself at a point, is making the assumption that we contribute for similar reasons.

Some contribute because it aligns with the kind of person they want to be.

Others contribute because it’s a high status thing; it signals to others who are interested in that signal. Some contribute because they’ve imagined how ugly the alternative can be.

Others contribute because in the long term, they want to be around people whose lives have become better because of what they helped make happen.

Some contribute because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Others contribute because they want a royal welcome in the afterlife.

Some contribute because of the longing from within them. Others do so because of what they want to get.

The reasons may be different. The actions are the same. We contribute.

And the world is better for it.