# Sharing

Sharing is the joint use of a resource or space. It is a basic component of human interaction, and is responsible for strengthening social ties and ensuring a person’s well-being. Many examples can be found in nature. When an organism takes in nutrition or oxygen for instance, its internal organs are designed to divide and distribute the energy taken in, to supply parts of its body that need it.

## Quotes

* The Principle of Sharing which will eventually rule all these arrangements will produce an attitude to property and possessions impossible to visualize to-day. If a person has more than his share he will feel as uncomfortable and ashamed as one now does who has insufficient. The misfortune of not knowing how to give and to share will produce the inferiority complex of the future. The Christian admonition that “if a person ask of thee thy coat give him thy cloak also” will be understood by all. Those who need something will not rob, but will state their need at their Community Centre and will thereby be given by their neighbors a much greater choice of goods than they could attain by attempted theft. Furthermore, tastes and requirements will become successively reduced and simplified in measure as peoples’ needs become choice and few.
** Vera Stanley Alder in Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950)
* Give with a heart glowing with generous sentiments; give as the fountain gives out its waters from its own swelling depths; give as the air gives its vital breezes, unrestrained and free; give as the sun gives out its light, from the infinite abysses of its own nature.
** Augustine of Hippo, p. 25.
* Poverty is the load of some, and wealth is the load of others, perhaps the greater load of the two. It may weigh them to perdition. Bear the load of thy neighbor's poverty, and let him bear with thee the load of thy wealth. Thou lightenest thy load by lightening his.
** Augustine of Hippo, p. 25.
* The governments are tapped out. This is why and this is when ... the billionaires need to step up now on a one-time basis, $6 billion to help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don't reach them. It's not complicated... I'm not asking them to do this every day, every week, every year... We have a one-time crisis: a perfect storm of conflict, climate change and COVID. ...Just help me with them one time... The world's in trouble and you're telling me you can't give me .36% of your net worth increase to help the world in trouble, in times like this?... What if it was your daughter starving to death? What if it was your family starving to death? Wake up, smell the coffee, and help... My god, people are dying out there... We have a vaccine for this. It's called money, food.
** David Beasley, quoted in Millions are at risk of starving to death — and just .36% of the world's top billionaires' net worth could help fix it, U.N. official says, by LI Cohen, CBS News, October 27, 2021
* The gap between rich and poor can't be resolved without deliberate inequality-busting policies, and too few governments are committed to these... Our broken economies are lining the pockets of billionaires and big business at the expense of ordinary men and women. No wonder people are starting to question whether billionaires should even exist.
** Amitabh Behar, as quoted in Wealth of India's richest 1% more than 4-times of total for 70% poorest: Oxfam, Livemint
* Be charitable before wealth makes thee covetous.
** Sir Thomas Browne, p. 25.
* The fact is, people work hard and rely on Food Stamps—or SNAP Program—to be able to feed their families. When they work full-time they still live in poverty. That's wrong in our nation. Students who are losing hope because of the difficulty of finding jobs in this tough economy. What we need to do, what is best for America, is to raise wages, create jobs, and then we will move forward. Hard-working people are trying their best, but those who hold on to capital are not sharing the wealth, and there is the problem.
** Simone Campbell, interviewed by Al Sharpton, "Nun Responds To Hannity's 'Communist' Comparison: 'Name Calling Is About All That Exists On That Side'," Media Matters for America video, 4:12, April 21, 2014.
* Do you wish to honor... He who said, “This is my body,” and made it so by his word, is the same that said, “You saw me hungry and you gave me no food. As you did it not to the least of these, you did it not to me.” Honor him then by sharing your property with the poor. For what God needs is not golden chalices but golden souls.
** John Chrysostom Homilies on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Homily L
* When the Great Dao (Tao, perfect order) prevails, the world is like a Commonwealth State shared by all, not a dictatorship. Virtuous, worthy, wise and capable people are chosen as leaders. Honesty and trust are promoted, and good neighborliness cultivated. All people respect and love their own parents and children, as well as the parents and children of others. The aged are cared for until death; adults are employed in jobs that make full use of their abilities; and children are nourished, educated, and fostered... orphans... the disabled and the diseased are all well taken care of....
** Confucious, A Great Utopia (The World of Da-Tong)
* I have heard of a monk who in his cell, had a glorious vision of Jesus revealed to him. Just then, a bell rang, which called him away to distribute loaves of bread among the poor beggars at the gate. He was sorely tried as to whether he should lose a scene so inspiring. He went to his act of mercy; and when he came back, the vision remained more glorious than ever.
** Theodore L. Cuyler, p. 26.
* The eight top Pfizer and Moderna shareholders made over $10 billion last week when their stock holdings skyrocketed after the discovery of the new Omicron variant. This comes as global public health advocates warn the world will keep seeing more coronavirus variants unless wealthy nations and vaccine manufacturers do more to address vaccine inequity. “The companies that make the most are doing the least to share their technology,” says Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now U.K., which is documenting Big Pharma’s profits. “The priority is making enormous amounts of money for some of the richest people in the world.”
** As World Confronts Omicron Variant, Top 8 Pfizer & Moderna Investors Make $10 Billion in a Week, Democracy Now!, (7 December 2021)
* As the coronavirus variant Omicron spreads across the world at an unprecedented rate, a group of vaccine experts has just released a list of over 100 companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America with the potential to produce mRNA vaccine. They say...[sharing] is the one of the most viable solutions to fight vaccine inequity around the world and combat the spread of coronavirus variants, including Omicron.
** As Omicron Spreads, 100+ Firms in Africa, Asia & Latin America Can Make mRNA Vaccine If Tech Shared, Democracy Now!], (16 December 2021)
* In a shared fish, there are no bones.
** Democritus (ca. 4th century BC)
* I command you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and the poor in the land.
** Deuteronomy 15:11
* You shall not turn away the needy, but shall share everything with your brother, and shall not say that it is your own, for if you are sharers in the imperishable, how much more in the things which perish?
** Didache, 4.8.
* A beneficent person is like a fountain watering the earth and spreading fertility: it is therefore more delightful and more honourable to give than receive.
** Epicurus in James Lee (M.A.) (1867). Bible illustrations: consisting of apophthegms [ &c.], grouped under Scripture passages, by J. Lee. subscribers' ed. p. 452.
* Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, And the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
** Gautama Buddha (attributed), Sutta Nipata
* The new coronavirus variant Omicron is spreading across the world at an unprecedented rate. The World Health Organization warns cases of the heavily mutated variant have been confirmed in 77 countries, and likely many others that have yet to detect it. With international infections climbing, the Biden administration is facing renewed demands to follow through on his now seven-month-old pledge to ensure companies waive intellectual property protections on coronavirus vaccines and share them with the world.
** Amy Goodman, Achal Prabhala quoted in As Omicron Spreads, 100+ Firms in Africa, Asia & Latin America Can Make mRNA Vaccine If Tech Shared, Democracy Now!], (16 December 2021)
* The conflicts today with our fellow human beings are over opposing values and limited access to the necessities of life. If we manage to arrive at a saner future civilization... rather than having conflicts between nations, the challenges we will face will be overcoming scarcity, restructuring damaged environments, creating innovative technologies, increasing agricultural yield, improving communications, building communications between nations, sharing technologies, and living a meaningful life.
** Jacque Fresco, Designing the Future (2007)
* As we enhance the lives of others, protect our environment, and work toward abundance, all our lives can become richer and more secure... [and will] enable all of us to achieve a much higher standard of living within a relatively short period of time; a standard of living that would be continuously improved... When education and resources are available to all without a price tag, there will be no limit to human potential. p.81
** Jacque Fresco, Designing the Future (2007)
* Open your hands, ye Whose hands are full! The world is waiting for you! The whole machinery of the Divine beneficence is clogged by your hard hearts and rigid fingers. Give and spend, and be sure that God will send; for only in giving and spending do you fulfill the object of His sending.
** Josiah Gilbert Holland, p. 25.
* What do you think God gave you more wealth than is requisite to satisfy your rational wants for, when you look around and see how many are in absolute need of that which you do not need? Can you not take the hint?
** Josiah Gilbert Holland, p. 27.
* If you pour yourself out for the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness, and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."
** Isaiah 58:10-11
* “What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
** John the Baptist in Luke 3:10-11, (NIV).
* The Holy Supper is kept, indeed, In whatso we share with another's need,— Not that which we give, but what we share,— For the gift without the giver is bare; Who bestows himself with his alms feeds three,— Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.
** James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal (1848), Pt. II, st. 8
* Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
** Luke 6:37
* The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.
** Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Crossing Press. 1984. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-89594-142-8.
* The need for sharing deep feeling is a human need.
** Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Crossing Press. 1984. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-89594-142-8.
* My plan is to show you that the way out of your problems is to listen again to the true voice of God within your hearts, to share the produce of this most bountiful of worlds among your brothers and sisters everywhere... you must make the choice ---- whether you share and learn to live peacefully as true men, or perish utterly. My heart tells Me your answer, your choice, and is glad.
** Maitreya, Message No. 11 (5 January 1978)
* My Teaching is simple: Justice, Sharing and Love are divine aspects. To manifest his divinity, man must embrace these three.
** Maitreya, Message No. 81 (12 September 1979)
* My task will be to show you how to live together peacefully as brothers. This is simpler than you imagine, My friends, for it requires only the acceptance of Sharing. Sharing, indeed, is divine. It underlies all progress for man. By its means, My brothers and sisters, you can come into correct relationship with God; and this, My friends, underlies your lives. When you share, you recognise God in your brother. This is a truth, simple, but until now difficult for man to grasp. The time has come to evidence this truth. By My Presence, the Law of Sharing will become manifest. By My Presence, man will grow to God. By the Presence of Myself and My Brothers, the New Country of Love shall be known. Take, My friends, this simple Law to your hearts. Manifest Love through Sharing, and change the world. Create around you the atmosphere of peace and joy, and with Me make all things new.
** Maitreya, Message No. 82 (18 September 1979)
* Not only do we have no real right to the things of the world, because belonging always essentially to God they can never belong to creatures; but we are also limited by the laws of God in the use of those possessions; for it must not be imagined that God gives them to us so that we may dispose of them as we wish. He is too just to have made such an unequal distribution. These goods being the means destined by his Providence for the subsistence of men, he gives to some more than they need only so that they may distribute it to others. A rich man, in so far as he is rich, is thus no more than steward of God's good things.
** Pierre Nicole, Essais de Morale (1753), XII, p. 371, as quoted in The Bourgeois: Catholicism vs. Capitalism in Eighteenth-Century France (1968), p. 141
* "Not for ourselves, but for others," is the grand law inscribed on every part of creation.
** Edward Payson, p. 26.
* The eight top Pfizer and Moderna shareholders made over $10 billion last week when their stock holdings skyrocketed after the discovery of the new Omicron variant. This comes as global public health advocates warn the world will keep seeing more coronavirus variants unless wealthy nations and vaccine manufacturers do more to address vaccine inequity. “The companies that make the most are doing the least to share their technology,” says Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now U.K., which is documenting Big Pharma’s profits. “The priority is making enormous amounts of money for some of the richest people in the world.”
** As World Confronts Omicron Variant, Top 8 Pfizer & Moderna Investors Make $10 Billion in a Week, Democracy Now!, (7 December 2021)
* The new coronavirus variant Omicron is spreading across the world at an unprecedented rate. The World Health Organization warns cases of the heavily mutated variant have been confirmed in 77 countries, and likely many others that have yet to detect it. With international infections climbing, the Biden administration is facing renewed demands to follow through on his now seven-month-old pledge to ensure companies waive intellectual property protections on coronavirus vaccines and share them with the world. Now a group of vaccine experts has just released a list of over a hundred companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America with the potential to produce mRNA vaccines to fight COVID-19. They say it’s one of the most viable solutions to fight vaccine inequity around the world and combat the spread of coronavirus variants, including Omicron.
** Amy Goodman, Achal Prabhala quoted in As Omicron Spreads, 100+ Firms in Africa, Asia & Latin America Can Make mRNA Vaccine If Tech Shared, Democracy Now!], (16 December 2021)
* These vaccines were created through public money — nearly $500 million of German public money from taxpayers to BioNTech, nearly a billion dollars in money from U.S. taxpayers through the government to Moderna, several billions of dollars after that in exchange for buying back vaccines at high prices. So these are very much the people’s vaccines. It’s just that they are private property.... when the Moderna CEO says, “Oh, anyone can make the Moderna vaccine,” he’s being a bit disingenuous... It’s not really possible to do that. The way vaccines work and the way regulation around vaccines work is that they need to be made with authorization and a license. Moderna and Pfizer or BioNTech... need to authorize companies to make their vaccine... to share an instruction manual as to how to do it... The problem is... it loosens Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech’s stranglehold on these vaccines... It undercuts the massive tens of billions of dollars of profit and revenue that they can earn off selling to poor countries in the next couple of years, once they’re done with rich countries... We’re asking the U.S. and German governments instead to say, “Look, in the face of this intransigence, it’s time to use emergency laws... that you can use, that you have the moral and legal power to put into effect, and end this pandemic for us and bring us out of this incredible cycle of hell.
** Achal Prabhala quoted in As Omicron Spreads, 100+ Firms in Africa, Asia & Latin America Can Make mRNA Vaccine If Tech Shared, Democracy Now!], (16 December 2021)
* If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
** Proverbs 25:21
* Proportion thy charity to the strength of thy estate, lest God proportion thy estate to the weakness of thy charity. Let the lips of the poor be the trumpet of thy gift, lest in seeking applause thou lose thy reward. Nothing is more pleasing to God than an open hand and a close mouth.
** Francis Quarles, p. 25.
* At the time of the Prophet's call to risalah, Arab society was devoid of proper distribution of wealth and devoid of justice. A small group monopolized all wealth and commerce, which increased through usury. The great majority of the people were poor and hungry. The wealthy were also regarded as noble and distinguished, and the common people were not only deprived of wealth but also of dignity and honor.It can be said that Muhammad—peace be on him—was capable of starting a social movement, declaring war against the class of nobles and the wealthy, taking away their wealth and distributing it among the poor.
** Sayyid Qutb, Milestones (1964), pp. 14-15
* Shared pain is lessened; shared joy, increased — thus do we refute entropy.
** Spider Robinson, "Callahan's Law", in The Callahan Chronicals (1996) [originally published as Callahan and Company (1988)]

## See also

* Bailouts
* Charity
* Compassion
* Generosity
* Hunger
* Justice
* Living wage
* Negative income tax
* Noblesse oblige
* Poverty
* Sharing economy
* Social inequality
* Social justice
* Virtues
* Unemployment
* Universal basic income
* Wealth redistribution