Lending a helping hand

I wrote in one of my old articles about how the world is just a muddle factory and all we do is solve one problem or the other until we depart earth and like we say in my country - problem no de finish (problems never end). But every effort we make as humans from when we wake up in the morning till when we finally retire in the evening is all in a bid to live a lot better than we did yesterday. All our strife is just for a more comfortable life, good food, better clothes, money in the bank to take care of our needs.

But why do we hold on too tightly onto things of the world, why don't we help as often as we should with things in our possession? I know you can't help everybody but can you beat your chest and say you tried your best? Life is full of twists and turns, sometimes good karma visits us and pays us in kind, some other times it pays us in a different currency. But do we help, hoping to be visited by the good Karma or do we help because seeing that person in that situation brings tears to your eyes?

Why are some people built that way? The empathic I mean. In a world where greed, selfishness and self-centeredness are normal and termed competition, being empathic feels like a curse, a burden. And it gets worse when you don't have the means to help or the means to help as much as you would have loved to. But is there anything like helping enough? Does it matter how little or how big you helped? I think the only thing that matters is the intention. I help because I am a softhearted human who hates to see others suffer. LOL, I can't even kill an animal to eat because I hate to see them suffer.

So, does it mean someone with a good heart and the purest intentions who offers the help of $100 dollar to a friend in need is far better than someone who offers a $5000 loan to a friend but expects interest on his loans till it is fully paid back?

Why do we unconsciously expect something in when we offer a helping hand? Has helping as a virtue been commercialized? Has it become a tool to massage our egos with? What are your truest intentions when you are lending a helping hand? So you can talk about it and say hey, I helped that guy? Are you doing it to be cheered upon? Is it really wrong to want to earn accolades for offering helping hands to people? I wouldn't say it is wrong in my own opinion but I am sure it shows how small a helper actually is, and how big he thinks of himself.

I have been on the receiving end of many humbling gestures from friends and family in my lifetime and when I offer any sort of help in return, I don't feel like I have paid back a debt, I feel like I have done my human duty, the duty of love and community.

I have rendered help to absolute strangers who I even hide from when I coincidentally see them again because I just can't stand them greeting and thanking me all over again, it breaks my heart that they were in that situation to start with. It sucks when you are empathic in this cruel world of ours, you feel tasked to solve everybody's problems. You wish you had more so you could do more. Hmmm...life is better when everybody around you is smiling, life is better when you are helping and giving.

When I used to go to church, I had gone into the chapel to pray once, actually, I came to offload my burden because I was feeling emotional, I was feeling stressed, my business wasn't moving and it was giving me a lot of stress. I had finished and was about to head out when this guy approached me and was saying something about his daughter, in between blurt of crying and stuttering. I couldn't wait to understand what he was trying to say but I was already heartbroken because he was almost kneeling down. DAMN!!

I pleaded with him to stop and follow me...I wanted to go withdraw some money in the bank before I branched over at the church, so we headed to the bank. I did the withdrawal and gave him 1/10 of everything I had in my savings and this guy started saying prayers for me, it was such an emotional scene. He asked for my name, I told him not to worry about it. He was still bemused that a total stranger would give him such a big wad of cash but I wasn't a stranger to those kinds of things at all. I bid him farewell and left him.

What else is there to do in life than to help one another? Sometimes when I am having a quiet moment and I see people suffering, doing menial jobs to put food on their table, I feel sad for the world. Please help as much as you could, that's only what we are here for.

Pardon my rant, this is freestyle writing which I did in about 35mins. I didnt think of writing prior to actually writing this, but I just stumbled upon the Good Karma Army community and decided to drop something to say hello.