Help is at hand……………. ish

Fandango has set this as his provocative question this week.

Is it more important to you to be able to help yourself, help your family, help your friends, help your society, or help the world?
There have been times when it has been down to me to help myself. Family were not close by and friends were few. Had it not been for a good GP and boss, I may well not be here to write this.
We are firm believers in that we cannot help those who will not help themselves, insomuch as we grew tired of certain relatives who expected us to do all the running, liking it to ‘speeding truck coming in my direction, please lift me out of the way.’
Helping friends? Always if we can, but it depends on what kind of help they’re asking for or expect.
‘Neither a lender nor borrower be’ is something instilled into me by my father when it came to friends. Do not lend them money, and do not borrow from them. It’s a fast track way to lose them as friends and your money. However, passing on tips for savings or details of bargains or good service were always welcome.
My Dad did a favour for some ‘friends’ of mine, and only charged for materials used for fixing their porch roof. When the work was completed, they said they would pay as and when they had some spare money. In four months, I think my dad got £20 for a job that cost almost ten times that much, and had I known they would take such blatant advantage, I would never have asked him to quote for it. As for settlement? My Dad wrote the debt off and again, had I known, I would have paid it myself as he was not in a position financially to suffer such a loss.
Help the world? I like to think I make a contribution somehow, be it charity donation, recycling, or indirectly in government taxes as they give so much in overseas aid.

So, what do I consider to be most important? If I can’t help myself, how could I be expected to help anyone else? But saying that, I’m the kind of person who would try to help anyone in some way if they needed it.