Power of Generosity: How to Transform Yourself and Your World

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

In Power of Generosity, Dave Toycen, head of World Vision Canada, looks
at giving: what it is, why we do it, and its impact both in Canada and
in countries in chaos. His exposure to “the great killing machines”
that have raged through Uganda, Cambodia, and Rwanda in recent years
positions him to comment first-hand on the need for generosity in
today’s world. His examples range from how to respond to panhandlers
in Toronto to the horrors of genocide in Africa.

Generosity, Toycen says, can involve sharing money, food, time, and
forgiveness. No one, he says, is too poor to give and no one is too rich
to receive. Being generous is about more than money: it involves our
time, influence, and expertise. Toycen draws on major religions when
discussing the history and theories of generosity, and covers such
traditional concepts as tithing. Yet this is not about Christians
patting themselves on the back.

Toycen makes the link between generosity and the pursuit of justice and
brings the broad-stroke theories down to the human level. Our desire to
be generous is strong, he says, but it is also fragile. It’s more than
doing things; it’s expressing something deep in ourselves, a
fundamental part of our humanity.