Help me, God! My obsession with correctness and righteousness is driving me mad. I used to think that we ought to help only those people who are correct and/or righteous and/or good. I then realized I would use up all my time in first judging if someone was good/correct/righteous, and by the time I realized if they were indeed good/correct/righteous, they were beyond me helping them. Add to this my abysmal record at judging people.
Who am I to judge people anyway? What authority do I have?
Hence, I have decided that I am going to help anyone who needs help, as long as -
a. He/She is not Osama Bin Laden wanting to plant a bomb in WTC.
(Note: This means I am willing to help Osama Bin Laden do some good deed like planting trees and helping stray dogs :D, assuming, of course, that planting a bomb in WTC is bad ;-)
b. I don't know that the helpee (correct usage'a?) is someone bad AND I am helping them to do something that is not bad even if it is for their good.
I am wondering if I need to include any more categories. Let me know if you think I need to.
If my faith in God is anything to go by, I should reason that He knows who I will eventually help and if my faith is true, let the purpose of my help to the person be for a good cause. After all, I consider it a privilege and an honour to be of help to someone. If I were to keep trying to judge everyone who comes to me for help, I lose a valuable opportunity.
Quandary - What if someone not-so-good who has helped me in the past comes to me for help? Naturally, I am driven by gratitude to help them. But what if they, as mentioned, are not-so-good and/or the purpose I am helping them for is not-good-not-bad?
Orey Koshtamappa.
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Update
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A few more things to keep in mind -
There are two aspects to helping -
a) The cause/person you are helping and
b) The help itself that you are rendering.
The act of helping needs to be as objectively done as possible, and objectivity needs to address the two points above. You might be passionate about helping, but that passion should not override the above objectivity.
Trying *too* hard to help is a strict no-no. You will especially be confronted with this situation when you have a close friend or someone you badly want to help, but since the opportunity doesnt present itself, you try to create opportunities to help.
Who am I to judge people anyway? What authority do I have?
Hence, I have decided that I am going to help anyone who needs help, as long as -
a. He/She is not Osama Bin Laden wanting to plant a bomb in WTC.
(Note: This means I am willing to help Osama Bin Laden do some good deed like planting trees and helping stray dogs :D, assuming, of course, that planting a bomb in WTC is bad ;-)
b. I don't know that the helpee (correct usage'a?) is someone bad AND I am helping them to do something that is not bad even if it is for their good.
I am wondering if I need to include any more categories. Let me know if you think I need to.
If my faith in God is anything to go by, I should reason that He knows who I will eventually help and if my faith is true, let the purpose of my help to the person be for a good cause. After all, I consider it a privilege and an honour to be of help to someone. If I were to keep trying to judge everyone who comes to me for help, I lose a valuable opportunity.
Quandary - What if someone not-so-good who has helped me in the past comes to me for help? Naturally, I am driven by gratitude to help them. But what if they, as mentioned, are not-so-good and/or the purpose I am helping them for is not-good-not-bad?
Orey Koshtamappa.
---
Update
---
A few more things to keep in mind -
There are two aspects to helping -
a) The cause/person you are helping and
b) The help itself that you are rendering.
The act of helping needs to be as objectively done as possible, and objectivity needs to address the two points above. You might be passionate about helping, but that passion should not override the above objectivity.
Trying *too* hard to help is a strict no-no. You will especially be confronted with this situation when you have a close friend or someone you badly want to help, but since the opportunity doesnt present itself, you try to create opportunities to help.
