On giving back, from "bring me the rhinoceros"

"We can't say that human lives have a purpose, since a purpose would be smaller than we are. It's true though, that the impulse to give freely to the world seems to be at the bottom of the well of human intentions where the purest and clearest water arises. To be able to offer back what the world has given you, but shaped a little by your touch- that makes a true life. Eventually we find our song and remember it and sing it. And we can never know who else will sing the song or how the story will turn out in the end; its ripples widen beyond us and there is no end in sight." -John Tarrant