In India there is a tribe known as the Santals. Missionaries who work with them have observed many interesting characteristics about their lifestyle.

One of the more notable facts concerning the Santals is how they carry a burden. The women carry a burden on their heads while the men use a long pole. When a baby is born everyone asks, "Does he carry on the head or on the shoulder?" which is another way of asking if the child is a boy or a girl.

A missionary who works with the Santals once had a friend come for a visit. He asked a Santal to meet him and bring his luggage. The Santal, carrying pole in hand, went to retrieve the missionary's friend. When he got to the station he encountered a problem. The visitor only had one bag. The Santal's normal response would be to divide the burden in half and put the halves on each end of the pole and carry the burden. However, he could not divide this burden in half. So the Santal found a rock that weighed as much as the luggage bag. He tied the rock to one end of the pole and the luggage bag to the other and carried home the "doubled burden." He found that the double burden was lighter than the single bag of luggage.

When we live lives of selfishness we, too, will find it to be more difficult. When we become a giver instead of a taker we discover that life is easier and in fact lighter, for "whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."

Adapted by Stuart Robertson, Balanced Burdens (London: Hodder and Stoughtonl Limited), p. 9.