One day at the barnyard, the pig and the cow were talking. The pig was sad and a little bit angry. "It's not fair!" he exclaimed. "What isn't fair?" asked the cow. The pig answered, "I live and breathe to feed people, and I give every bit of myself to them, hardly anything goes to waste when they're done with me. But do I get any recognition for it? Of course not!" The pig looked up at the cow. "Look at you," he said, "you don't give as much of yourself to people, and yet you are worshiped in some parts of the world." He turned around and sank his snout into the mud. "I don't understand these people!"
The cow thought about it for a while, and then replied, "I think I know why that is so." The pig looked up again. "O yeah? Why?" he said to the cow. "It's because while you're alive, all you do is take," explained the cow, "the only time you give of yourself is after you die." The pig was speechless. "Us cattle are beasts of burden," continued the cow, "we spend our best years helping people till their farmlands and take their crops to the market after harvesting." The pig slowly lowered his head, turned around and began walking back to his pen. He did not say a word; he was too busy thinking of what he can do for the good of mankind.
Oftentimes in life, dear Ysak, it is not how much we give that matters. What's important is how much we GIVE UP for the sake of others. Giving is always good, mind you. But when you give away what you no longer need, you are simply keeping those things from going to waste. But when you take something that you need and give it to someone whom you know needs it more, then you are making a worthy sacrifice. And that is the best kind of giving.
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