When do we say it’s ENOUGH?!!

When can we say that we have given much? Will we ever ascertain a point or phase wherein we can say that we already helped and that’s it! It’s already our fair share. But really, how do we define HELPING? Do we help to some extent or extend our hands all the way? I’m quite confused with all these helping stuffs. Does it make me a bad person if I intentionally halt helping someone ‘coz I think I already have given my best? Does it make me cruel if I think first of my family’s sake?

Helping other people, most especially in their greatest time of need, is a great privilege. My mom kept telling me that it’s better if you’ll be the one helping rather than being the one seeking for help. Yup, it made sense to me. We should be thankful and proud if we’re helping someone ‘coz that only means that we’re capable of sharing a part of us regardless if it would payoff or not. But is there such thing as rules and regulations when it comes to helping? Is there any limitation at all? What type of help weighs more – financial, emotional, or prayers? Or would it even matter? In my 20 years of existence, I have encountered different sort of situations wherein I needed to help and I needed some help. It felt good when you’re helped but it’s a different kind of feeling when you are able to reach out and lend a helping hand.

Who should we help then? Is it even right to choose people that we should help? From a young adult’s perspective, I say that it’s so much better to help someone who’s also helping himself. One reason why many of us hesitate to help because this makes the person very dependent on us. That person may even do nothing to improve his life because he thinks that there will always be a certain person where he can turn to (ready and always available). Instead of helping, we end up contributing some points in messing up his life. I think it’s better to help a person who is also willing to change and help himself. There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he’ll be willing to climb himself. Lastly, it would be heartwarming to look at a person who has become a self-reliant individual because you shared to him how to stand up like a real man.

When is it considered to be less or more? Is there such a tool that can measure the amount of help that we have given? They say that it’s not good to share something just because it’s abundant or we have much that’s why we share. When we share a part of us then that usually includes sacrificing something we value. I’m really okay with that thought. We can only give what we have, right? Now, this one makes my understanding of helping a little bit blurry. How do we know that we’re sharing just enough for us not to be the one needing in the end? Is helping really that critical? Worse comes to worst, we can end up broke and needy if we won’t combine helping with thinking.

Are we doomed if we refuse to help? Or are we gonna be saints for being so selfless? The risk of helping and the remarkable feeling each time we help – two opposing factors that we should take into consideration each time we lend our hand. We are human and we coexist in this very small world. We give help as we also need help. Now, am I condemned if ask this question, “When can I say ENOUGH?!!”.