Have you ever had the opportunity to help someone who desperately needed some form of assistance?
And if so, did you take it?
If you did I’m willing to bet that the experience ended up making you feel just as good as the person you helped.
Life being what it is, virtually every time we’re around other people we’re presented with opportunities to help someone.
That help can be as serious as rendering aid to someone who is having a heart attack or as mundane as helping someone shorter than us retrieve something from a high shelf.
Or it could be literally anything in between.
There have been times in my life when I needed help getting through some pretty serious situations, and I can honestly say that there was always someone there who was able and willing to help me out.
And some of those generous souls were complete strangers.
Of course there will always be some folks who repeatedly take advantage of anyone and everyone who is kind enough to offer assistance, but even when I suspect that might be the case I still offer whatever assistance I can.
Why? Because helping others when the opportunity arises makes me feel like I accomplished something good that day.
But even more important, helping others gives me an opportunity to make up for all the times that others took time out of their busy days or pulled their hard-earned money out of their pockets to help me out when I was in a jam.
I know people who believe they’ll never need help from anyone because they have everything completely under control.
I truly believe every one of those people are wrong.
Regardless of how well we take care of our bodies or how well off we are financially, we’re all just one car accident or one economic downturn away from a really bad situation.
And regardless of how happy we might be at the moment the unexpected loss of a loved one can leave us with a broken heart.
Now I’m not suggesting that you go broke helping everyone you meet out of their financial jams or spend so much time helping others that you lose your job for missing too much time from work.
All I’m saying is it’s good to provide any assistance we can reasonably offer when we cross paths with someone who could use a helping hand.
And the opportunities to help are many…
Perhaps someone could use some help changing a flat tire.
Or maybe the young mother ahead of you in the checkout line discovers she’s a buck or two short when paying for this week’s baby formula.
Or perhaps the old man sitting on a park bench with his head in his hands is feeling down and he could use a smile and a word of encouragement.
If you make the effort to help folks like that I honestly believe it’ll end up helping you just as much as it helps them.
And now, to finish up, here’s a heart-warming short video that demonstrates the awesome power of kindness. You might not understand the language but you’ll definitely understand the story.
I hope you’ll take a few moments to check it out.
Note: As always, you can watch the video at full screen by clicking the “square” icon that will pop up in the lower-right corner of the video after it begins playing.