Americans donate approximately 2 percent of their disposable income to charity.

Then there are Julia Wise and Jeff Kauffman.

Since 2008, the couple, now 31 and 30, respectively, have donated half their income to charity, a total of $585,000.

“We have what we need, so it makes sense to share with other people,” Wise told today.com.

Wise, a social worker, and Kauffman, a computer programmer, plan on passing the philanthropy bug to their daughters, two-year-old Lily and six-month-old Anna.

“We hope they’ll grow up thinking this is a normal part of life,” Wise said.

What example are you giving your kids?

Are you teaching them to be givers or takers?

I wanted you to hear this story, but I don’t expect you to give away half your income.

What will you give of yourself, however, so that others can have a better life?

Make a positive difference with your life!

If not today, when?

As I searched for opportunities to volunteer, I noticed that a large veteran’s hospital in our area needed a Chaplain’s Assistant.

The priest, who was in charge, gave me a list each week of the patients to visit. There were two floors where patients who had been long time smokers had to have their voice boxes removed.

I felt very uncomfortable going there.

One of the men, who could only write on a tablet, shooed me away several times and I was glad.

However, after about three rejections, he motioned for me to come to his bedside.

He had antagonized his family so much, that he had not had visitors for years.

He seemed interested in renewing those relationships.

After a few more weeks, the priest told me that the man had reconciled with his family.

The next time I visited, he had died and I celebrated his victory over himself.

A party of men were shipwrecked and adrift in a small boat on a stormy sea in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.

One night, the men saw the light of a passing ship. But how could they attract the attention of those on the ship?

They had a lantern—but only one match.

That solitary match was all that stood between them and the liner that was steaming by.

With a prayer on his lips and with trembling fingers, a young sailor struck the match.

Shielding the match with his cupped hands, he lit the lantern.

On the liner, the lookout man spotted the light, informed the captain, and soon the men were saved.

Amid the stormy seas of life and against the background of eternity, the present moment flickers like that lighted match.

What will you do with your moment?    (billygraham.org)

Ms. Wong, a cab driver picked up a passenger who robbed her at knifepoint.

She surrendered all she had and said: “This is all I have earned today. You can take the coins in my pocket too.”

The robber was stunned by her frankness.

Wong continued: “Where do you live? It’s late. Your family may be worried about you. I’ll take you home.”

Her thoughtfulness moved the robber, and he put his knife away.

Ms. Wong elaborated: “My family has lived a hard life, but we are better off than before.

If you keep going along this path, your life is doomed!”

When they arrived at the robber’s home, Wong said: “Listen! You didn’t rob from me. I gave you the money.”

“Do something good with it and don’t rob again.”

The robber gave the money back to Wong. “I promise I won’t do this again, no matter what!” he said.       (David Jirard, visiontimes.com)

A shabby man approached me several days ago while I was eating rice soup at the university I am currently working for.

Looking pale and without hope, he reported to me several of his troubles regarding his life and family. I sat there, silent while my attention was all on him.

Telling story after story, the man admitted that he was rejected by many people just because he was old. He called himself, useless and stupid.

And continued calling himself with these adjectives throughout his talk. I sensed that this man just needed someone to listen to his stories.

Just before leaving the table, he looked at me and said, “Son, you are the first person to listen to my stories with kind attention.”

“Thank you for being kind hearted.”

Then, he walked away with a smile on his face.

If not today, when?

(Pang Amarnh) (lifeaward.blogspot.com)

In 2007, Barbara Mangi’s daughter Dana, 25, was murdered. Mangi not only has forgiven the murderer, but she writes occasional letters to him in prison, where he is serving a 35-year sentence.

“I was angry at first, but I didn’t want horrible things to happen to him. I just wanted justice.”

At the sentencing, “my heart was still hardened.” The murderer said how very sorry he was. He told them he never meant to hurt Dana and “all he was able to do for the rest of his life was pray for us.”

Mangi remembers that “he had a quivering voice and tears in his eyes. At that moment, I actually realized I felt compassion for him. That’s how my forgiveness started.”

“After I was able to forgive him, I felt so much more freedom!” (Reawakening: Return of Lightness and Peace after My Daughter’s Murder.)

  

For 34 years, Lou Ann Alexander worked as a flight attendant. But at the age of 58, she received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. So, she was making plans for hospice care.

Her older brother, Rex, was flying to see her when he asked the flight attendant if he could speak to the passengers.

He talked about her and passed his phone around with photos of her. He then handed out napkins and asked if they’d write a little something .

Ninety-six passengers responded.

Some drew pictures. But mostly, there were warm words: “Your brother made me love you, and I don’t even know you.”

And “My favorite quote: ‘You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.’” His sister passed away, but he never forgot the compassion shown that day.

“I’m just amazed that total strangers will reach out and show so much empathy and concern.” (Arizona Republic)

We are not strangers. We’re all children of God!

Yes, it’s one of those few things in life where everyone wins and nobody loses!

You obviously feel better about yourself and the recipient feels better also.

The bigger the kindness, the bigger the win for both parties.

If your kindness is genuine, your motive is only to benefit the other person.

And that’s the spirit in which it should be given.

If it is to receive thanks, gratitude or recognition, it isn’t genuine.

True kindness makes the world a better place with or without thanks?

Always remember, if you are to become a GIVER, you must remove your EGO from the transaction.

Also, many people, who do good things for others, may have a hidden agenda. This is when kindness is used as a manipulative tool to gain some advantage.

Don’t go there!

Nigeria is a long way from University Heights, Ohio.

Which is why Felicia Ikpum hadn’t seen her son Mike Tersea for four years, ever since he’d left Nigeria on a basketball scholarship to John Carroll University.

But with his graduation from John Carroll looming, Tersea’s teachers and classmates thought his mother should be at the ceremony.

“We wanted to do something valuable for one of our classmates,” Joe Kyburz, the senior-class president, told the Baltimore Sun.

Knowing Ikpum couldn’t afford the plane ticket or hotel, the school raised $1,763 to bring her over.

Nigeria can be a dangerous place.

Yet, Felicia traveled 12 hours through terrorist-held territory to make the flight.

What was her reaction when she laid eyes on her son after four years?

“I screamed, I shouted!”

Be kind! We’re in short supply!

Thirty years ago, his world almost fell apart. He had surgery, was fired, and was informed by the IRS that his employer had not paid employment taxes.

After a few weeks, he saw a flyer about a Japanese festival. Although a physical and emotional wreck, he decided to go.

There, he met a Japanese gentleman with whom he chatted for hours.

A few months later, he came home to find a bouquet of flowers and a letter at his door.

It was from that same friend. Inside the letter was a check for $10,000 to help him through a rough patch.

Sixteen years later, he met a family that had been evicted from their home and needed $5,000 to close the escrow on a new house.

Without hesitation, he handed them a check for the full amount. They call him their angel, but he remind them that he, too, once had an angel. (Hassmik Mahdessian, Glendale, CA)

If not today, when?