微小的付出、巨大的影響
“A butterfly’s flapping in Amazon Forest can cause a storm in USA.” – The Butterfly Effect
“一隻亞馬遜河熱帶雨林中的蝴蝶扇動幾下翅膀，可以引起美國的一場龍捲風。” – 蝴蝶效應
Back in Taiwan, we ran a thrift shop business and we donated 10% of our income to charity. It’s kind of like the “Tithe” thing in Christianity. According to Bible, a “Tithe” or tenth is the proportion of property devoted to religious uses from very early times. Even though our business never makes enough money to cover our costs. We were still devoting ourselves to our own definition of Tithe commitment. After almost 5 years, we passed our shop to our beloved friend before we left Taiwan. We have helped over 30 non-profit organizations and participated in many charitable events. Also, we donated over Three hundred thousand TW Dollars.
在台灣時， 我們經營了一間二手商店， 我們將營業額的百分之十全數捐做公益。 類似基督教的十一奉獻精神。 根據早期聖經的說法， 十一奉獻是將自己所擁有財產的十分之一奉獻給教會。 雖然我們店裡的生意從來賺不夠還本， 我們還是堅持著十一奉獻的精神。 過了將近五年， 在我們離開台灣之前， 我們將店轉交給摯愛的朋友經營。 我們幫助了三十幾個非營利公益團體， 參與了數次的公益活動， 總共捐出了三十幾萬台幣。
Helping out others didn’t really help our business, because our idealistic concept was not getting much business. But it helps us realize that we don’t really need to make that much money to be generous to others and to be happy. It might sound cheesy, but all we need is love!!
幫助別人並沒有幫助到我們的生意， 因為我們太理想化的概念讓生意一直都很糟糕。 但是， 讓它幫助我們理解， 我們並不需要賺太多錢才能慷慨助人及得到快樂。 可能聽起來有點肉麻， 但是其實我們只需要愛。
I know we have to keep on doing this no matter where we are. To start another business adventure when we move to Austin will give us an opportunity to spread our love. We will continue follow the similar idealistic concept. For every item or product that we sell, we will contribute part or our incomes to a charity of our choice. It could be a dollar for each item or 10% of total sales. Perhaps donate all the profit through a charitable event. For a small business, what we can accomplish might not be much. But if we keep doing what we are doing, any small giving can make a huge difference in someone’s life.
我知道不管在哪裡我們都必須繼續做下去。 舉家搬遷至 Austin 後再以這些想法創業， 給我們另一個機會散播我們的愛。 我們仍然堅持著類似理想化的概念， 將捐出每一件賣出去的物件或商品的部分收入 來協助我們擇選的慈善單位。 或許是每件捐一塊錢、 或許是總收入的十分之一、 或許就捐出一場活動的獲利。 對一個小生意來說， 我們能做的可能不多， 但是如果我們持續做下去， 任何渺小的貢獻， 都能在某個人身上帶來極大的改變。