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Sunday, December 02, 2012

December 2: Help

Help, I cannot think straight!
Help, I am not making any progress!
Help, I am out of cash!
Help, I am infatuated!
Help, I am overwhelmed!
Help, my phone is acting up!
Help, I don’t have anything to wear to work!
Help, I cannot stand my surroundings!
Help, I don’t know what will become of me after college!
Help, I want to get what I want!

My, didn’t I ask for a lot of help throughout the year? But, then again, have not I been, and don’t we all?

As my 2012 began with thesis-themed dramas, I did shout-out for thesis-related help a lot. This resulted in a four-paged thank you note in my thesis, which included even Benedict Cumberbatch.

The four-lettered word reminds me how humble I am as a human being, just like a table top that will not make a table without four legs. Whenever one is clueless or helpless, however, help is always on its way.

This year, I learn that sincere help lasts even longer after the favour is done. A call for help gets not only a problem solved, but also priceless after-effects that enrich lives. To name one of the said life-enriching effects of asking help; it reconnects me with friends, who ended up introducing me to their friends and now I can call them my friends as well. Also, no matter how much I prefer flying solo and doing as many things on my own as possible, I can only manage to do so because of the help of others.

On another note, the prompt for the day also alternately asks whether I did help for someone and how it did play out. Since the occasion permits, let me talk about how people have been addressing me queries on applying for the exchange scholarship I got in 2010 by summing it in a line: I am surprised on how some can be really depending on other people’s answers and not making enough effort to help themselves first.

As implied by the prompt for today, help is not only about asking for it, but also about giving it, obviously, to the ones who need. Grew up watching a TV serial on the legend of Sun Go Kong, I remember a quote from Tong Sam Chong the monk, who once said that “in helping people, one must do it thoroughly.”  As much as I live by the quote, I also believe that people deserve thorough help from others only after they have done everything they can to help themselves.

In that sense, I have very little respect on people who came to me and ask, “May I ask you questions on applying for the scholarship?” with no previous effort on thoroughly reading the FAQ trilogy I have posted on my blog. Don’t get me wrong, I am more than delighted to get more people applying for and eventually getting the scholarship, but I don’t see the need to go the extra miles for those who don’t do so at the first place. Surely, if one has found me on Facebook, they can also look my blog up and read the scholarship-related posts before come to me and address more specific inquiries. If they have done so, then by all means, ask me anything and I shall be glad to help in any way I can.

So, how can I help you?

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