Wednesday, May 19, 2010

THROUGH THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

Why is it SSSOOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier to be nice/ compassionate/ helpful to complete strangers but not your own family?

Because you know that your brother/aunt/nephew has 1) gotten themselves into this scrape through actions of their own, 2) numerous times before been in the exact same situation, and/or 3) actually deserved the emergency disaster they are in.

My husband today has cheerful and willingly spent literally HOURS helping the daughter of one of his sergeants (who is currently in Germany) cut through the military-health care-through-a-civilian-hospital for emergency stitches on her hand, and also told the previously mentioned sergeant to come home immediately if necessary and not to worry about completing the inspection she was over there to do.

But now our actual/biological daughter's apartment is up for an actual inspection by the manager's of her complex, and it's difficult to get up any enthusiasm after literally years of "if-you-don't-keep-this-apartment-clean-you-are-going-to-get-kicked-out", purchasing cleaning supplies for her, about every six months breaking down and at least cleaning off her kitchen counters (which are buried under piles of pizza boxes, microwave dinner boxes, and discarded newspapers).

Have you ever wondered if the Good Samaritan helped this particular guy because this dude wasn't related to him?

It is much more pleasant to help almost anyone else in the world rather than someone you are related to.

(Of course, unless they live in Hawaii - then it is pure charity)

1 comment:

Annette said...

I think you're right about the Good Samaritan!! :-)

I have so much more fun cleaning someone else's house than mine. What's the deal??