Thanks for Stealing From A Charity

OK, so the first time it happened it was sort of funny.  I posted a while back that as part of our goal of gifting a million copies of How to be Rich and Happy to people in need, we had donated some to a silent auction.  And of all the items up for auction, including expensive golf clubs, artwork… the only thing stolen was copies of How to be Rich and Happy.

So here we are approaching the holidays, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s happened again!  This time though it’s not as funny.  We shipped a case of books up to North Kent Community Services, up in Rockford, Michigan.  It’s a great charity involved with making a difference through things like seniors meals on wheels, providing food to families in need, emergency assistance to help people get back on their feet…

The books were to be given out as a holiday gift to people who the charity serves.  A way to help the recipients get their life moving in the direction they want. Only the books didn’t get there.

JUST THE EMPTY BOX DID!

Someone took the books out, stole them, and then taped up the box and sent it on its way.  Can you believe that?  Stealing books going to a charity.  That’s low.

Two things of note about this.  First, it provided an excellent opportunity for Tim and I to use one of the Rich and Happy techniques, something called reframing. And second, it provided a chance for you to feel really good.

All that from someone stealing books from a charity???  Amazing but true.

First the reframe, then I’ll get to you feeling good.

Reframing an event means adjusting your reaction to it.  The meaning behind any event is entirely dependent on our reaction (emotional and physical).  In this case, we could have chosen a number of emotions and reactions to someone stealing the books.

Anger - What the $&@!  Let’s throw things. We’re going to find this person, hunt them down…
Victim - This isn’t fair.  It shouldn’t be like this.  Why did this happen to us? Let’s bury our head in our hands and let the tears flow.
Give up – If people are going to do things like that, what’s the point.  We’re investing all  our time and money to make a difference and no-one cares.  Forget it.  Slump the shoulders and take on the look of hopelessness.

Some of those emotions/reactions may sound familiar.  I’ve tried them all at various points in my life.  Perhaps you have as well.  Depending on the state of life you are in, they can be mildly satisfying when you first try them on.

That doesn’t last though.  Really quickly you realize that hanging in that space very long becomes detrimental to a Rich and Happy life.

And so when Tim and I discussed the books being stolen, after a quick moment in the annoyance emotion, (who steals from a charity, especially around the holidays?) we quickly began to reframe the event.

First of all, this makes for a pretty interesting story for when we do interviews.  When someone says, “Tell us some of the interesting things that have happened with your goal of giving away a million copies to people in need,” we can now go…

Well, it’s such a life changing book that people have even stolen it in order to read it.

So we just want to go on record- If you genuinely can’t afford it, we will SEND YOU ONE FOR FREE! But you have to ask!

Then we thought, hey, why not blog about this and give people a chance to participate in the holiday spirit of giving.  See, this charity the books were going to didn’t have money to pay for the shipping of the books, and so one of the ladies who works there paid for it out of her own pocket.

Well now that the books were stolen, she lost out on her shipping money too.  So we have committed to gifting another case of books, and we’ve opened it up to people like you to donate a buck or two, or more, to help us get this box of books delivered in time for the holidays.

And being a part of making that happens makes you feel good.  (See Tim’s recent post). So someone stealing the books opened up a chance for you and others to feel good.

Then, this situation gave me a big brainstorm idea.  What if each time we receive a request from a charity for books, we could post here on the web site the name and purpose of the charity, and ALWAYS let people donate a buck or two, or more to help cover the shipping.

So if it’s a charity that is out there making a difference for single moms, and you have a particular passion for helping single moms, you could see that and help make it happen.  You could feel good all the time!

The next thing you know, we realized that by reframing, we had also applied another piece of the Rich and Happy formula. We’d figured out how to turn this “obstacle” into a great big asset.

So thank you to whoever stole the books.  You’ve done so much for us.  No need to steal any more.  We’ve got the asset now and will use if early and often.

And if you’d like to take this event and make it an asset of yours, by providing you with a chance to help make a huge difference in some people’s lives around the holidays, you are welcome to donate towards getting that new box of books to North Kent Community Services up in Rockford, Michigan using the PayPal button in the top right sidebar. Thanks!