TECHGUYCHEN

Many of my friends, family, peers, and coworkers know of me as that guy who’s always willing to help people out: whether it be some random handyman service or providing rides to and from the airport, I’m likely to say yes on a whim.

The question then of course is “Why?” Why do I spend my own, meager ‘free’ time helping others out, often at a cost to myself?

The answer lies, more or less, with the idea concept that helping others can help yourself, spiritually. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48) Essentially, if I have certain privileges that others do not (such as owning a car, or having certain skills), I find it well to help those who do not those privileges. You could say that Uncle Ben’s famous line from Spiderman was derived from that line in the Scripture.

However, there has been one thing that has consistently bugged me over the past two years of college: people who may unknowingly abuse this thoughtfulness.

And I’m not talking about a case such as someone I barely talk to constantly asking me for rides: that would be abuse of a (hopefully) known manner.

Instead, I’m talking about being inconsiderate when someone, such as myself, goes out of their way to help you in some way.

In the times I need help, which I try to keep to a sparse minimum, I’ve always tried to distance myself as far away as possible from becoming inconvenient.

When I had to recently stay with someone for the past two weeks I didn’t have actual room/board, I made sure to clarify the resident’s “house rules” and tried to stay out of the way as much as possible, not troubling anyone. I cleaned up after my mess, and made sure things went back to the way they were. I would offer to help in whatever way I possibly could.

And when it comes to someone picking me up, I make sure to plan so it’s most convenient for them. I establish exactly where I will be, what time I will be ready to be picked up, and pick a location where it will be easy for them to stop and pick me up (for example, at an airport, standing at the curb right next to a line of shuttle vans is not helpful).

But this hasn’t been the case for me, in several instances over the past two years. The examples I listed above were based on incidents where the negative happened to me. I can also still strongly recall an incident involving a Zipcar rental appointment when people I had agreed to drive did not show up on time, wasting my time, wasting my money, and creating more stress for me.

And it’s starting to severely annoy me. But I’m one of those people who are too kind to speak up when I’ve already agreed to do something for someone.

But maybe some of those people will read this and take the hint.

Regardless, if someone’s agreed to help you out, through the kindness of their hearts, please help them out by not making any trouble for them. It’s not your home, not your car, not your time, and not your money that’s being borrowed and used. Remember that.