At one time or another we all have wondered if what we chose to do for another person is worth it. Was it worth giving that dollar to the guy on the corner? When we loaned our friend that $100 knowing they won't be able to pay it back was it worth it? Your parents need to be taken care of because they are getting older was it worth it? A parent needs a babysitter so they can go to work or get some sleep so you watch their kid. Was it worth it? Your boyfriend/girlfriend wants to better their life by starting a business or going to school, but they need some tools to do so. Is it worth helping them? A family member needs a place to stay so they can get on their feet. Is it worth it? A family needs money for food you give them what you have extra to help. Was it worth it?
All these situations plus more either I have had to deal with or seen people that have had to decide what to do. We are faced with the choice of whether we should help someone at some point or another in our lifes. Sometimes we chose to help people and it doesn't hurt us. Then there are times we chose to do something to help someone that we know may backfire in our faces. Sometimes we even know it definitely will backfire and yet we do it any way. Why? Maybe it is something that is genetically programmed in us or maybe we just feel that if it was us it is what we would want someone to do for us.
So what do we do in those moments that those moments of kindness backfire on us? Do we get angry and swear never to help anyone again? Do we blow it off and think about how they will get what they deserve? How about forgiving the person? Maybe we even go through all these feelings.
I am not going to say that helping people hasn't made me feel all those feelings; plus maybe some that I am ashamed of feeling. Yet with each situation I believe that in the moment with the information I had I did the right thing. Maybe some of those choices I am still paying for in one way or another, but in the end I did what I felt I should do. I was the friend who stood by her friend and was there when no other person was there for them. When someone needed money and I had it I was the person who automatically gave them the money. Not so they would be in debt or would look at me as being a great person, but because I remember my family needing help. I remember my father giving a family at a rest stop money to get home or to get food when we were barely making it by. I remember when our School Bus broke down on the side of the road on the Coast of Oregon and we needed to unhook the car from the back so my Father could get a part from town. A young girl was walking by and offered to help. My parents didn't know anything about here, but offered her food and a place for the night. They could have just taken her help and never thought once about where she was going to sleep. Yet they offered her a place without being asked or prompted. Granted she chose to sleep under the stars. That whole night I thought about her and from time to time I still do. That night it rained hard and I have hoped that she was safe that night.
No matter where I am, how hard things get, no matter who does me wrong I will always help those who need help if I can. Not for the gratitude or praise. I won't do it so that people will look at me as a Saint or a friend. There won't be a feeling of gloating or a time I will hang it over their head. The whole reason I will do it is, because if it was me or someone I love I would want someone to do it. I do it due to it is the right thing to do.
If helping someone, because you would want them to do it for you or your loved then maybe for yourself. When you help someone and you see a look of relief or gratitude no person can help to feel good inside. There is a warmth that floods through you that can't be manufactured by anything. You can't even replicate that feeling by a good workout or a run. That feeling only comes from helping another person who is desperately in need of help. That help can be just being a friend and listening to them. It can come from helping them with a simple need they have or even by giving extra money to help them.
I am going to ask each of you to do one thing. It can be anything. Just one thing to brighten someones day or to lighten their load. You don't have to give them money or anything major. Just be there for someone when they are down. Say hi and talk to a person who is on the outskirts. All you have to do is do for another person what you would want them to do for you or your loved one. Don't think of what they may do for another or how it may come back to you. Just think of the moment. Think of that person and their situation. Try to put yourself or a loved one in their place. Then do what you would hope they would do.
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