Helping yourself is the best way to help others!

Funny title I know. Thing is, I have observed too many times in life, that people are often unwilling to help themselves, instead, they prefer to deal with a bad situation until someone else fixes it. I think this type of mentality hinders progress on so many levels.

Yesterday, I was taking an alternate route to leave my house since there was some road work going on where I usually pass. On this new route, I noticed a section that was muddy and filled with water, basically a pothole across the entire path. Some thoughtful individual had put a plank across the hole, in order to pass. Unfortunately, half the plank was also under water.

So, after navigating this treacherous path, I eventually returned home from my trip. I decided to take my spade and go create a small drain, to run off the water, thus solving the problem. I shifted the plank slightly and now people could pass without having to go through a balancing act.

Well, that done I returned home and went about my business. The next day, as I was leaving to go out again, I met a neighbor. Well, more precisely, he stopped his car and held out his hand to me. He shook my hand and thanked me profusely for fixing the path and praised me highly, even his wife was all grinning at me. I’m there like, well, it really was a no biggie but, cool, you’re welcome.

To be honest I was in shock. They were so happy with the five minute task I had done that they were smiling at me from ear to ear. I understand that the previous path was wrought with stress for women especially, but still, it wasn’t that hard to fix. Plus I did it for me! Lol, just goes to show how much people could do for themselves, to improve their lives, if they put in maybe five minutes of effort.

At the same time, it felt really good to be thanked and praised like that, minor and insignificant though the act seemed to me, I made some people really happy xD I feel like looking out for more opportunities like that, where helping myself was also helping others. It may seem like a selfish course, but like I said, half the time people don’t even want to help themselves, far less for others.

I have always felt this way but this sinks the idea in even more. If I want to see something improved in the world around me, I will do it myself and not simply say that it's not my responsibility. Too many persons take this stance even though they themselves can damn well benefit from a simple act. If everyone started helping themselves more and relying on the authorities less, the world could be a much-improved place for all of us.

Thanks for reading :)
All images sourced from pixabay.com

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