Naomi’s post over on the Jewish Adoption blog brought something to mind this morning.

For much of my life I’ve had a concept of the least a person should contribute over the course of a lifetime. Although I can’t conjure a scene to go with the first hearing, I attributed the phrase summing up the idea to my father. I’m second guessing that now, but do know that he certainly would have agreed, even had he not been the one passing it along to me.

Thanks to Google, I was able to pinpoint the source of the wisdom finally. Turns out, it’s from the Talmud and goes roughly like this:

At the very minimum, every person should plant a tree, have a child and write a book. (Naomi, please forgive the shiksa version of this venerable passage.)

We take up space on this planet, and resources … air, food, water, oil, cotton, steel, trees, … and therefore should expect to pay something toward the greater costs of our keeping. This is no free ride, and anything not compensated for now will eventually come due. How much better our world would be if more people took the time to be grateful, to calculate the debt owed and to make an effort to reimburse for goods and services received.

Just in the course of living we take, take, take, so giving is the only way to balance our account. Planting a tree could begin to offset a portion of the oxygen we took in. Raising a child with awareness and a willingness to contribute can bring light to a future beyond our time. Writing a book, educating or entertaining, may cause ripples in ponds of thought that radiate in wonderful and unexpected directions.

Not at all a bad place to start.