Giving.

I started reading "A Moral History of the Twentieth Century; Humanity" last night. Not a feel good book really - but I came across a paragraph that I liked. Talking about sympathy and self interest, Jonathan Glover writes

"Our entanglements with people close to us erode simple self interest. Husbands, wives, lovers, parents, children and friends all blur the boundaries of self concern. Francis Bacon rightly said that people with children have given hostages to fortune. Inescapably other forms of friendship and love hold us hostage too. The deeper levels of relationships are denied to people who hold large parts of themselves back. And to give yourself means that part of you belongs to the person you care for. There is a constant pull towards new kinds of sympathy and commitment. Narrow self interest is destabilized."

These stones represent the person I am today.