The taxi had taken me to the wrong bit of the airport – Virgin America instead of International – so I was glad when a slightly official man put me in a wheelchair and got me to the right place. And even more grateful to a complete stranger who helped me get a crucial boarding pass from a complicated machine. But what about the woman who kindly helped me to a seat that was worse than the one I was in? Or the one who somehow swapped the thing I was trying to read with one she thought I would like and then wouldn’t change back?
Helping the old or confused is plainly a kindness, but it’s not always simple to get it right. Even the man who “was kind to little animals wherever they may be/ And helped a stranded jellyfish back into the sea” might have got it wrong about the real aspirations of the jellyfish.
There are so many reasons why someone may offer help: academics want to print their way of thinking on to another generation; those who speed along the parting guest may just want to be sure the visitors catch their trains lest they stick around for another week; and those who say “let me show you I how do it” – make coffee, weed the roses, strip the bed – are simply trying to make sure a job gets done the right way, or indeed at all.
Quite often helping someone else is just a way of getting out of doing something yourself – or making what you want to do accepted. I suppose I should not try to cheer up non-drinkers with a stiff gin. But I guess there’s no neat rule: we couldn’t get by without helping each other where we can, though maybe those who are most to be thanked and admired are those who offer a choice – and don’t treat us like small children, however aged we are.
What do you think? Have your say below
