Pogue,
I’ve been people watching and I’ve drawn on a library of observations gained over time. See if this resonates with you.
Seated comfortably? Then here I go.
There are people who in this life are needy. For a variety of reasons which a lot of the time are not their fault. Some are born in the wrong place, bad geography. Some have bodies that are broken or minds that just don’t fire correctly and that makes us sad🥺. Some fall on hard times or circumstances prevail against them. They’re dealt a bad hand. You will be thinking of other needs I’m sure. The thing is, I’m beginning to ask if there are also people who need to help, to be able to give. In fact they have a need all of their own. They have to be doing something for others.
Such people are always throwing themselves into the breach, often at some cost to themselves. People praise them and see them as having a selfless nature, of holding others higher than themselves. But here’s the thing, whilst they are being seemingly selfless, are they acting to meet a need in themselves, albeit subconsciously? Like moths to a flame they are drawn to places and situations where they can be helpful be it by dedicating their lives or just giving an hour or some money or something else.
So who should be thanking who. ‘Thank you that I was in need and you came’ or ‘thank you that you let me help you’. Does that seem like a bizarre question? But take time to look at people who are always there to assist and make better. Watch how, when one situation is finished and completed they are on the look out for the next.
Don’t get me wrong, we so need these people. What would the world look like without them? I know of more than one or two who have made huge contributions to areas of need. But I have also seen that they are unable to stop. They are driven. Again I say ‘thank goodness for such people’. But are they the balance in a needy world. Is their existence part of the karma of the universe? Part of the cosmic jigsaw without whom the picture will not be complete?
So, next time you say ‘Thank you’ or next time you receive a ‘Thank You’ stop and access who should be thanking who.
Yours, assuring you that I am not a helpful type so I need all your thanks if ever I act😎,
Wic
Letters To Pogue 
Another wonderful episode 👏. Of course the world needs kind people just as much as it needs needy people 😊
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Wic, what you’re describing is kind of like an economy of supply and demand, isn’t it? There’s some karmic balance to need and to being needed, to giving and to receiving. Sometimes we get so over-identified with either role. It would be an interesting study to track our own patterns of giving and reciving in a single week!
I gave my Mom a sweater today for her birthday. Each time we come, we bring little gifts: flowers, chocolate, a cup of coffee. Sometimes we bring things for the nurses, sometimes for the other residents in her Memory Care community. She always says with such earnestness, “But what can I give you? I have nothing for you!” We get to tell her all the things she’s given, all the things she’s done for us through the years.
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I am married to a giver, kind hearted man. I am not by my own human nature a giver but God in me stirs my heart at times to give and I try to be obedient to Him. My mother hated it when she did not have something to give back to us when we gave to her. She was in a nursing home and they played bingo often so she saved her wins to give to us when we came to see her. I have been needy and been able to give too. God has taken care of us through others lots of times and prompted us to help others when needed. The Bible says the poor will always be with us. Good thoughts Wic.
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