Sacrifice

I was sitting in one of my last classes for my Developing Sustainable Communities course this past semester and we were talking about what we had learned and how to use what we had learned to help others. The word "sacrifice" came up; as in someone may have to make a sacrifice to get what they really want and in order to do what is good for the whole rather than the individual. My professor quickly suggested that we might not want to frame things as a sacrifice, people they won't want to hear that they have to give something up.

The concept of sacrifice is not new to me, nor do I see it as a bad thing. Thus, I was really surprised by the reaction of my professor. He was adamant that we should be careful how we phrase things. Sacrifice is not a word people want to hear, nor a principle that they want to apply in their lives so we should not suggest it. I raised my hand and shared my view that people already sacrifice things and not talking about it doesn't change that. I suggested it may be more a matter of helping people become aware of the sacrifices, or trade-offs, they are already making rather than trying to make them believe that they must make sacrifices.

This principle and the conversation in my class came back to me as I was reading up on personal finances and the role of distinguishing between wants and needs. The article said it was vital to learn that sacrifice is necessary to become disciplined. It hit me that people may not want to hear something, but often what we don't want to hear is exactly what we need to hear.

Sacrifice can be viewed in terms of what we must give up now or in what we are hoping to gain in the long run because of our discipline and choices now. I personally like to think about if what I am hoping to gain is worth what I am choosing to give up. Weighing the trade-offs can both help change tracks if we are not really going where we want, or if what we have to give up now turns out to be too high a cost and can strengthen the resolve to continue exercising discipline when the end goal is worth the necessary sacrifice.