Do you wake up in the morning and ask yourself, is there something I can do to help someone today?
A little over a week ago I had a friend and her husband, that were opening a new restaurant. They were putting their life savings into this new business. They wanted me to paint murals on the walls of the restaurant and were willing to pay me for my professional art work. I spent a little over a week painting all of the murals they wanted. During that time, I overheard them talking about everything they had put into the business and were almost out of money. Today I gave them my bill. It was the total of my material cost, period, no labor. A job that would have cost the close to $900, cost the $66.00. Sometimes, it is not always about money. It is about friends.
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Can’t say I’ve ever woken up to do that before, but I try to do my best to help out my friends whenever they need a hand. I’m not stingy; I pay for my friends all the time. I do them favors.
I don’t know, I do what everyone should do for their friends.
I don’t wake up and think that, but I help my family, friends and neighbours whenever I can.
It’s nice when they reciprocate.
I don’t wake up and think that but I’m always willing to help out a loved one.
This reminds me of the ‘pay it forward’ idea. That I like.
Your are a super sweet person. Trust me when you open up a new business it is not all that easy. You are a good friend. I have not done that in awhile. When I do good more times it is not planned. My neighbors had there electricity shut off. Their daughter told me. I called around and got them a help. They had to take a class and they got it turned on. You can only do it once a year. It felt good.
I must say that i never think that upfront. If i come accross something that i can do to help someone and i want to help them and am able to, then i’ll do it, but i don’t get up with a purpose to look for someone to help. Of course i’m always willing to help my husband, but i don’t get up with the conscious thought of “how can i help him today?”, i help as and when it comes up and is needed.
What you did was nice though, opening up a business is indeed a big risk and costs a lot of money, i’m sure they appreciate it tons! I’d gladly do that for my best friend too, or even for a family member, but not just anybody.
No, I don’t ask myself such a question. My modus operandi is to do such things as the opportunities present themselves.
I don’t think I actually ask myself the question (especially not upon waking up in the morning, but that’s a whole other issue). I always look for ways to help people throughout the day though. If an opportunity presents itself, I take it. Sometimes those opportunities present themselves after I have specifically asked a friend if they need anything.
I used to. Now I am more selective as there are a lot of people who simply are a bag of hammers when it comes to planning and especially to their own lives. When things don’t turn out in their favor they are quick to blame bad luck or others for their misfortune. The key here is “mis ’fortune”. By this I mean just that…their gamble didn’t pay off and it’s everybody’s fault but their own.
I had a similar story with new neighbors opening up their new coffee shop in town. I rode my bike by the new shop and I stopped in to say hi. It is 6 pm the night before their grand opening and it looked like a bomb had gone off. Nothing was painted, floor not mopped, boxes yet unpacked and two harried neighbors and a handful of friends scurry about. I asked if they needed any help and they said an emphatic ”YES!” So I went home changed into work clothes grabbed every tool I could carry and went back with my kids to help out mostly to demonstrate to my sons what it meant to help people out when help is needed. We started to patch the walls and prime them and 10 pm I took the kids home and came back and painted the entire store front inside myself including 2 bathrooms. Just like the TV shows….6 am all the furniture was in place and the first customers walk through the door. I felt great, the kids felt great for helping out…and a couple of nights later I came to an open mike night there and saw the neighbors behind the counter and asked for an espresso and they said that will be $2.50 please. Not even a thank you for your help was ever muttered they even made announcements that morning at the grand opening and thanked their friends and family for all their help but not the neighbors and 2 sons who kicked in a massive dose of elbow grease to make their place presentable. I later found out they were silver spooners who just were ungrateful people who were horrifically bad managers of money and their time. The shop lasted 9 months and they lost everything they and their families invested.
My moral of the story is they didn’t need my help…I didn’t see that at the time. They would have simply had to open their shop with scummy walls and painted after hours on their own time. I now focus my philanthropic efforts on Ma Nature who can always use my help and the local shelter where there are people who are truly grateful for anything you can reach out to them with.
As others have said, I don’t wake up thinking that (I’m not a morning person, I wake up hating everything, :)) but I help whenever possible.
No, but I ask myself if that assassin I hired to kill me will succeed.
@Cruiser Your story is very interesting. I suppose if you want to look at it as a positive thing, you could say that your neighbor gave you an opportunity to teach your children about community and pride in oneself. It doesn’t really matter what they think or acknowledge, you and your boys know what you did and that is what is really important. I for one am proud of you.
@RANGIEBABY I really do appreciate your kind words and that was the take away we all got from it. In fact the boys really have no inkling of my own reservations from that experience and it served as a prime building block to their own initiatives they bring to their Scouting projects they now are involved in.
@Cruiser You are a good father, and I am sure your boys exhibit that through their behavior. Love your story.
I’m going to make this my goal for the week. Thanks for inspiring.
@ninahenry Good for you. I think you will find, opportunities will find you. There is little gratitude these days, I don’t know why, but I find if you never expect it you won’t be disappointed when it doesn’t come. On the other hand when it does come you feel even better than you thought.:)
@RANGIEBABY Post it note to remind me, after time hopefully it will come naturally. I’m trying to live life with a more positive outlook. This will help greatly. I guess Fluther’s a good start. The main way I help people is through advice. I wonder what else I can do? Shall be looking out for old ladies reaching for cans of beans on the top shelf.
@ninahenry You sound like a creative person, I am sure you will come across something, since you have an open mind to it. I would like to know when it happens and what you did. You can PM me all about it.
@RANGIEBABY OOH I WILL! Must take notes to document the upcoming random and not so random acts, will PM you if I’m around :)
That was so special what you did. When you do something from the heart, Karma will always step in and reward you.
No, I usually wake up in the morning and ask myself, “Can I get away with hitting snooze one more time?” Unless it’s a weekend, then I wake up and ask myself ‘Should I get up?.... Nah’
@AmWiser I also believe in Karma. I really hope these people will turn around when the situation presents itself and help someone else in immediate need. They are the kind of people that will do just that and hope fully my deed will just continue. Who knows maybe I was continuing some other persons good deed.
BTW, she called me last night after their first day of opening. She was crying and so thankful for what i did, to help them open on time. That was lovely of her to call, but I didn’t expect the crying. Bless her heart.:)
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