"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time" - Thomas A Edison
"Remember the happiest people are those not getting more, but giving more" - H Jackson Brown Jr
Both the quotes above have a common theme - to give. The first quote can mean to give up or to relinquish control or to surrender. This surrender is by a person to his circumstances or to his weakness or to some extraneous factor. There are forces that push people to give up and fail in their mission of life.
The second quote is about "giving out" ie, here the giving is generally based on an individual choice and not determined necessarily by external forces.
A friend of mine had both these giving qualities in abundance. He tragically died recently of a heart attack and the story of his life was so much about giving. Both these qualities in a human being make for a tragic compelling story.
Aditya gave up to his disease, which was diabetes. It was an awful surrender to a malady that could be controlled through proper diet, exercises and medication. This giving up was a surrender to his circumstances which could have been avoided if he had someone to direct him on where he was going wrong in his fight against the disease. By giving in Aditya was not happy with the circumstances which made him succumb to his disease.
On the other hand, all his life I saw him giving out to his family and friends. This act of giving was a voluntary act that he seemed so intrinsically bound by. He gave to his sisters, his mother, his cousins, his wife and children. So by giving out he was happy.
Such is the contradiction of life - being a giver gave him both pleasure and grief.
To live life well and truly both the Givings needed to be balanced, Giving Out in a rational manner so that it does not impact the Giving In, or vice-versa to not Give In to circumstances in order that the Giving Out pleasure could be prolonged
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