Teach a man to fish...

The saying goes if you teach someone to fish they will have food for life. No-one really thinks about the person who taught that person to fish, and what that can teach us about interdependence and the benefit of compassionate works. 

Learning to fish is not an instant thing, so it could take days or weeks of patience and getting the technique just right. Whilst this happens, the two people become friends and share whatever fish they might catch on that particular day. At first then, both benefit, as both don't go hungry. This is great, as it means that even if the person teaching has a bad day of fishing, they will still benefit from having an extra person around to share the reward with. 

As the student gets better at fishing and understanding how to fish, something else happens. Imagine for a moment that this person is not skill less, just not skilled at fishing. So this person who is fishing all day realises that with their engineering skills, they could improve the design of the fishing rod, and the other equipment. 

They do so, and share this with the teacher, who then benefits from a better rod and gathers more fish, so both benefit.

then imagine if the second person starts telling everyone they know about how great a teacher this person is, and all of a sudden, you have a whole network of people sharing their skills together and the results of those skills. 

So you could have a chef, who learns how to fish, but also teaches everyone how to cook the best fish, or an entrepreneur who shares with everyone how they could sell any fish left over and create a business. Or someone who understands chemistry and shows everyone how to keep their fish fresh.

All from one person teaching another how to fish. You dont just feed that person if you share your skills with each other, you can benefit everyone.