"Who said that everything is lost? I come to offer my heart." This is how a verse from the popular song by the Argentine composer Fito Páez reads. Despite the fact that it seems that no one wants to extend a helping hand, many people want to help others even if they do not appear on the front page of any newspaper or magazine.
We all have that need to contribute our grain of sand, but not all of us dare. Sometimes because we think we are the worst, sometimes because we have been disappointed with people's response to our help, and other times because we simply don't know how to help others.
Helping others is a very serious commitment that begins with examining ourselves to see how much we can give, there is no person so poor that they do not have something to give to others, nor so rich that they do not need help someday.
This examination does not end there, it is also necessary to analyze whether or not other people really need what we think they need and then the most important thing: how.
How to help others?
Aid is not a business, therefore we help not to receive something in return, but because someone needs something that we can give and we give it with joy. We must " forget what we give and always remember what we have received."
Helping should always be accompanied by educating, the person we are helping should learn, if possible, how to do things on their own and not henceforth become a parasite of ours or of anyone else. That is why the saying goes: " give a man a fish and he will feed himself one day, teach him how to fish and he will feed all his life." Of course, we must take into account the limitations of each one because there are people who, due to their physical condition, need the permanent help of others.
However, sometimes it seems that people with limitations end up outperforming “normal” people because it is surprising to see the things that the blind, deaf-mute and people with missing limbs like legs and arms can do.
That is why aid must be a commitment, a demand. Not for the return of the favor, but for the person to realize for herself her true potential.
Is it always possible to help others?
Unfortunately it seems that this is not always possible and this for several reasons:
1. The resources we each have are not always sufficient to help everyone and in equal measure.
2. Our level of preparation may be well below what we need to help others. And this is very important, because, as I said previously, we also need help and many times in the things that we try to help others. The most critical thing about this is that we divide the few resources we have to help in such a way that we all end up exhausted and worse than when we started.
3. Sometimes others accept our help out of courtesy or convenience but really don't want to be helped. This is very sad but it happens very often that people who get used to the charity of others do not want to be really helped so we also need to know who and when to help. It is not about contradicting the saying “do good without looking at who”, it is that doing good does not mean going around looking for someone to do good when we probably have that person by our side waiting for our real help.
I think an excellent example of what it really is to help those who need it and at the same time to be generous and not expect anything in return is the parable of the Good Samaritan that Jesus used to explain who our neighbor was.
When we do not observe such elementary points as these, we can become frustrated, disenchanted and worse, think that helping others is a bad idea, helping is in our social code, it is part of the principle of coexistence, you just have to discern properly and not focus on the amount of aid but at the root from which it comes from within us. It must be genuinely and truly selfless in order for it to grow as a fruitful and healthy tree for ourselves and others.
