Inspiration Mondays: Defying Physics

It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving. ― Mother Teresa

Since I donated my kidney almost two years ago, I've learned something that surprised me: not many people would do it. I guess when you are a donor, it's the sort of thing you never think twice about. I knew the moment I found out my mom's kidneys were failing that I was going to be her donor. And I was scared, but I knew that I needed to know that I had done everything I could to save her.

And you know, not everyone has to do what I did. I think it's important to remember that, it's not what you give, but the willingness to help someone that matters. There are risks in giving: to give means to make yourself vulnerable, and the risk of rejection is real. And if you're a scientist, it's basic entropy: energy in a system stays within the same system, but it constantly transferred to other bodies within the system. To give means to lose something of yourself.

It's funny how physics class comes back to you sometimes.

But what you receive after giving defies all laws of entropy. You end up getting a lot more energy back: more than you could ever imagine.

I watched the video below the other day and I cried. I won't forget the day I learned the surgery was all-go. I was in a meeting when my cell phone rang, and I went outside to take it. After the call, I paced around, but I didn't cry. I didn't cry until the morning of the surgery, when the nurse prepping me cupped my face in her hands and said, "You are a good child."

And the gift I got after the surgery was a perspective I never dreamed of: like standing on a step on a slightly different angle than before. I see things slightly differently, in different lights, in a different time frame. Instead of tomorrow, I think of forever...

Today, I'm inspired by people who give with as much love as they can muster, without looking for recognition or thanks. And those people are actually all around us: even you reading this. You do this more often than you know.

Thank you.