The problem with helping others...

The problem with helping others is that sometimes it can feel like a lost cause.  It's easy to focus on the negative aspects of people.  How often do you have a less than pleasant interaction with another person...even a total stranger?  Once a week?  Several times a day?  When we focus on that, it's hard to get motivated to help others.  We have to assume the best in people because so many people only show the worst.  My wife has a hard time understanding how I can be so into helping others when so many of the people we encounter are rude or selfish.

Here's how I feel about it.

People can suck, this is true.  Most people, however, are just caught at the wrong time or are the result of a bad circumstance.  Maybe their dog is sick or they just caught their partner cheating.  You never know.  How many times have we been the ones being the jerk because we were having a bad day?  Probably more often than we realize.  It's normal and it happens.  I like to think that when you help people, it makes them a better person, too.  They see that there is good in the world and pay it forward.  I'm a blood and platelet donor.  I go through the Red Cross which is completely voluntary with no monetary compensation.  I'm lucky enough to be healthy and have a blood type that is greatly needed for platelets.  A guy I met the day after Christmas while waiting to give platelets said something that I will never forget "if the worst thing we have to do is sit in a chair for an hour and a half to save someone, then we are very lucky."  I try to give platelets every 2-3 weeks and though it can be tedious, it's an incredibly small and easy thing to do to save someone's life and let them see another holiday, birthday, wedding, or new family member.  These people are already down on their luck and incredibly happy to receive anonymous donations.

Around the holidays, lots of churches and shelters set up food drives or ask for people to help deliver meals to the less fortunate.  It usually only takes a couple of hours in the morning so you can make it to your family's meal on time.  And you've given someone food, hope, and kindness.  Sometimes that's all it takes to turn someone's perspective around.

I feel blessed to be a lesbian.  When I donate or help others, people see someone who cares and not someone whose lifestyle they might not agree with.  It gives an inside peak into what so many people hate or fear (homosexuality) and just maybe it sticks in their mind that maybe it isn't so terrible or scary.

We have the power to help others.  The hardest part is remembering that not everyone is a jerk and that helping someone might just make them a better person, too.