Helpers

I was thinking today about the idea of "helping". In theory, helping is great! Let me switch gears for a minute.

Brynlee is on a kick where she says she is "sharing" something. Meaning she takes your things. I've tried to tell her there is a difference between "sharing" and just stealing someone's stuff. It's a hard concept for a 3 year old to grasp. Or maybe it's not and she is just being a stinker about it. She keeps "sharing" sister babies stuff aka taking her stuff and playing with it.

Brynlee also tries to "help" me. Which most of the time is her just making whatever I'm trying to do more difficult. But bless her heart she does try. And she is little so I can't fault her too much.

But that got my mind going about different types of people. Helpers if you will. Some people really enjoy helping. But even better, they help you in the way YOU need to be helped. Whether it's fun, glamorous or exciting. If you need it, they will do it. Even if it's inconvenient or unpleasant for them. Because sometimes the help you need is none of those things. Those are the best kind of helpers in my opinion. They are old faithful, reliable when you need it most. They don't make you feel uncomfortable when you have to ask them for help and they are not quick to hold it over your head for years to come.

However there is another kind. People who want to "help", but really only want to help the way they want to. Which sometimes is not very helpful at all actually. It's like Brynlee's version of helping. Meaning they want to do something, and cover it with the word help to make it seem like it's for someone else. But it's really not. It's for them. They are selfish helpers. And these types usually make you feel really bad about asking them for help in the first place. Or make you feel like you should be forever in debt to them for the "help" they provided. They are the kind of people you call for help as a last resort.

I've encountered both kinds, and feel like a I know a few from each category fairly well.

I won't get into what got me thinking about this. Jimmy has been gone for about 12 hours and after basically talking to only Brynlee all day my mind starts to wonder and ponder. But I'm challenging everyone to think about this idea. What kind of helper are you? What kind of helper do you want to be? Maybe next time someone needs help really think about it. Think about what you are offering to do for them and who it's really benefiting. And if you are really  being much of a help at all.

I strive to be like the first category, the real helper. But I wonder if I fall short sometimes and land in the latter category. The selfish helper. Imagine a world where we are all like the first!

Fun Fact ( and how fitting this one seems these days): January 8 1835 was the only day in history that the USA had no national debt