Once I decided this, it became my pleasure to freely give cigarettes to anyone who asked. I even offered them without being asked. Since then, I have never asked for any from others. But strange as it may seem, I have never suffered from a shortage of cigarettes. Even during World War II, when cigarettes were rationed, I somehow managed to obtain them.
In those days not only cigarettes, but also sugar, salt and rice were at a premium and were difficult to obtain. In my home whenever we had guests, we served them tea or coffee with plenty of sugar. When our stock of sugar ran low, someone brought more to our house. We never ran out of sugar. The same applied to rice and salt.
You may think that you will suffer and have a reduced portion when you treat your friends. However, it is interesting to note that generous people are blessed with money, material comforts and even friends. They live very comfortably, while stingy people live in a shabby manner.
His wife had resigned herself to his way but his son wanted to leave home and find work elsewhere. He thought, "I get paid such a small amount for working from 5 am to 8 pm. I'd better look for another job." On the small amount he made he probably couldn't even afford to buy his own cigarettes. I suggested to Mr. L that he should give a decent monthly allowance to his wife and son. He gave his wife the whole amount that I suggested but gave only half the amount to his son, thinking he would eventually inherit everything.
When he gave the money to his wife, he said, "Why don't you buy yourself a dress with this?" In all the twenty years of their marriage, it was the first time her husband had given her money. At first his wife just gazed in astonishment at her husband. But after a while she rushed out and did not come back at supper time. Her husband thought that probably she couldn't decide what to buy with this unexpected money and had forgotten what time it was.
But his wife did not go shopping. Instead, she went to her parent's home and crying for joy showed them the money. "My husband has changed. Look at the money he gave me."
"We thought that we had made a big mistake letting you marry such a stingy man and have felt sorry for you for a long time. But now we are relieved to see that he has changed."
Her parents were quite wealthy, but since Mr. L was so tight, they had never offered him any financial assistance. They thought that their help would not make their daughter happy and also they had no social contact with him. Happy to hear the good news, they offered their financial aid to Mr. L anytime he needed it. Since then Mr. L was able to purchase raw materials in quantity when the price was rock bottom. Other relatives helped his sales increase by referring capable workers to him. Thus, his confectionary business started growing steadily.
As the old adage says: "Stingy people are always poor." When Mr. L was stingy his business never yielded a big profit regardless of how hard he worked. But nowadays his company, though small, is very prosperous and his son is working very hard to help him.
When you are stingy you may temporarily gain or avoid a loss or have an easy time, but in the long run you will be disliked and won't be able to fully express yourself. Accordingly, you will have to live stingily all the time. Of course, you will not be blessed with material wealth, either.
Being caught up in this vicious circle you will never acquire a generous state of mind. In short, it is not admirable or worthwhile to be stingy.
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