There are times in our lives when we are physically okay and can assist someone else physically. Then there are days in our lives when we are sick, weak and we need someone to help us physically. One is not better than the other. As one grows older with age, one gets physically weaker and may need the help of younger people to get up from bed, climb stairs etc. The younger are physically stronger than the older, that is a natural law. We don’t think it is wrong when the grandchild helps the grandparent physically but we feel embarrassed when we need help when we are physically sick or have broken an arm or a leg and need help. Giving and receiving help both need the same dignity. One is not superior to the other. It is not your personality but the circumstances that decide whether you are a giver or a receiver.
Emotional help is no different from physical help. When you are emotionally in a strong place you help others who are emotionally vulnerable. You give them a patient ear, a shoulder to cry on or boost their morale. The tide turns and you are in an emotionally vulnerable position. You need someone to support you. But suddenly you feel receiving help is not okay. Why is that so? You did not think others receiving help from you made them any lesser human beings but when it is your turn to receive help, you feel embarrassed and don’t like it.
Help is sharing our resources with others who do not have the resource - physical strength, emotional stability, financial muscle, intellectual heft or any other resource. If you condemn yourself when you are receiving then you would be insulting those people who take from you when you are giving, isn’t it? Water flows from higher altitude to lower. A place being at a higher altitude is just circumstantial, nothing superior about it.
Giving help and receiving help is a cycle. Both are essential to balance. One is not better than the other. When you are giving you are grateful to be giving, when you receive you are grateful to be receiving. It is good to remember that whatever you are giving, you have received it from somewhere else. You are the giver and you are the receiver. Time in our life decides the position.
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