how can i help? part 3

I noticed few interesting points in today's reading.

Not surprisingly, many helpers experience what people call "burnout." Many of these altruistic volunteers tend to care too much for the helpless and burn themselves out. They work too hard and do not look after themselves and eventually hurting themselves in the process of helping the poor. Their compassion for others is admirable, but it is idiotic to hurt themselves to help others: "... to have compassion for others [people] must have compassion for ourselves" (186).

Before taking care of others, we must look after ourselves
so that we don't end up being the ones who need help in the end.

Generosity for the helpless rises from either the heart or the head. There is spontaneous response from the goodness of heart that triggers when one sees a person in need. People help others who are suffering for the sake of rewarding spirit: "This is the recognition of kindred spirit, born of inherent compassion" (188). However, there are some acts that are driven from the head not from the generosity of the heart. These "altruistic" acts sometimes have ulterior motives: "... in the guise of service, we try to impose our values on another" (189). I noticed that before from a church group that served the community. They volunteered at local homeless shelters and spread the word of God. Likewise, we try to superimpose our beliefs onto the ones we're helping out. People who help out in order to reach the goals also tire themselves out while volunteering; especially Christians who are out there helping out to convert all helpless to Christianity suffer heavily from the effects of the burnout. People need to learn to become rather dispassionate and distant from their motives in order to have more energy and do not suffer from a burnout.

The Salvation Army holds bible study classes to educate the poor about God.

Some people just worry too much after providing a service. After helping out, people want to know for sure that they were of help to the poor. Hence, they fidget and wonder whether they were helpful, accumulating unnecessary stress. Honestly, people must try their hardest and not worry about it like that; volunteers should have the mindset that "we do what we can" (209). Such mindset should set them free of worries.

In the end, we should ask ourselves, "how can I help?" and "simply heed the call of that natural caring impulse within, and follow where it leads us" (238).