Do you do good deeds for people when the opportunity presents itself?

Bretrick

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Location
Perth Western Australia
One time I helped a lady who got herself into a parking pickle.
She was trying to park her car but got too close to a wall and then she was too timid to move away from the wall lest she hit it.
I offered my help, she accepted, I parked the car without a problem.
 

Bretrick said:
One time I helped a lady who got herself into a parking pickle.
She was trying to park her car but got too close to a wall and then she was too timid to move away from the wall lest she hit it.
I offered my help, she accepted, I parked the car without a problem.
Click to expand...
I bet that doesn't happen very often these days. I mean, parking pickles do, but trusting a stranger to get in your car and help you out of it and then leave on foot; that's probably extremely rare.
 

Yes, I do but I'm not especially comfortable talking about it because I don't like to brag & it's difficult to describe without sounding like bragging.
1. When I was in my 20's, I was exiting the freeway around 2:00am & at the bottom of the off ramp was an older-model, beat-up Toyota Corolla with lots of steam coming out of the hood. And it was 40 degrees that night. I walked up to the driver's window & an elderly woman was sitting there. (no cell phones back then). I asked her how far she was from home. She seemed confused & couldn't tell me where she lived; maybe dementia or Alzheimer's. I asked to see her driver's license. She found it & from her birth date, she was 91. From her address, she was around 15 miles from home. I said I could drive her home. Seeing how readily she got in my car, I was thinking how easily she could become a victim.
On the way to her house, she had some clear moments & she told me she lived with her son.
We got to her house & after 15 minutes of knocking on the door, (she had no key) her son opened the door & he was very angry that I woke him up! He also seemed angry that I brought his mother home! When I said, "Maybe your mom should have a key to the house," he said, "Mind your own damn business." Amazing........

2. (This one taught me quite a bit about a couple of "Friends.") I had an emergency dental appointment & I was early, so I stopped at a "Target" store to kill some time. On the bottom shelf of an aisle, there was a woman's wallet. I looked around for a shopper but didn't see anyone. I looked inside it to get an address from a Driver's License or ID card. She must have just cashed a big check because the wallet was stuffed with $100.00 bills - around $5,000.00 worth.
It was getting close to my dental appointment, so I went home, got her phone number from "Information" & called. She didn't answer but I left a message on her answering machine with my name, phone & address. I said "I found your wallet at "Target," I'll call back in about an hour after my dental appointment." I also said not to worry; I know there's a lot of cash in it & I'm putting the wallet in my gun safe & I'm the only one with the combination.
After I got home from the dentist, there several hysterical messages on my answering machine. When we met, she insisted on giving me $100.00. She asked me why I didn't just give the wallet to the "Lost & Found" at the store. I said, "Well, I couldn't be sure the cash would still be in it. What if they told you, "When he gave us the wallet, there was no money in it?"
About those two "friends?" They told me I was really stupid to return the wallet with the money in it. They quickly became former friends - after I called them things that can't be repeated here.
 
win231 said:
Yes, I do but I'm not especially comfortable talking about it because I don't like to brag & it's difficult to describe without sounding like bragging.
1. When I was in my 20's, I was exiting the freeway around 2:00am & at the bottom of the off ramp was an older-model, beat-up Toyota Corolla with lots of steam coming out of the hood. And it was 40 degrees that night. I walked up to the driver's window & an elderly woman was sitting there. (no cell phones back then). I asked her how far she was from home. She seemed confused & couldn't tell me where she lived; maybe dementia or Alzheimer's. I asked to see her driver's license. She found it & from her birth date, she was 91. From her address, she was around 15 miles from home. I said I could drive her home. Seeing how readily she got in my car, I was thinking how easily she could become a victim.
On the way to her house, she had some clear moments & she told me she lived with her son.
We got to her house & after 15 minutes of knocking on the door, (she had no key) her son opened the door & he was very angry that I woke him up! He also seemed angry that I brought his mother home! When I said, "Maybe your mom should have a key to the house," he said, "Mind your own damn business." Amazing........

2. (This one taught me quite a bit about a couple of "Friends.") I had an emergency dental appointment & I was early, so I stopped at a "Target" store to kill some time. On the bottom shelf of an aisle, there was a woman's wallet. I looked around for a shopper but didn't see anyone. I looked inside it to get an address from a Driver's License or ID card. She must have just cashed a big check because the wallet was stuffed with $100.00 bills - around $5,000.00 worth.
It was getting close to my dental appointment, so I went home, got her phone number from "Information" & called. She didn't answer but I left a message on her answering machine with my name, phone & address. I said "I found your wallet at "Target," I'll call back in about an hour after my dental appointment." I also said not to worry; I know there's a lot of cash in it & I'm putting the wallet in my gun safe & I'm the only one with the combination.
After I got home from the dentist, there several hysterical messages on my answering machine. When we met, she insisted on giving me $100.00. She asked me why I didn't just give the wallet to the "Lost & Found" at the store. I said, "Well, I couldn't be sure the cash would still be in it. What if they told you, "When he gave us the wallet, there was no money in it?"
About those two "friends?" They told me I was really stupid to return the wallet with the money in it. They quickly became former friends - after I called them things that can't be repeated here.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the elderly lady's son would be quite happy when she passed away. He might/would gain access to her money.
Doing the right thing can sometimes put us at odds with those that do not have the same values.
You done the right thing and it is your friend who need to examine their motives.
How would they have felt if their wallet/purse went missing and the finder kept the money?
 
Aunt Bea said:
Maybe. 🤫😉😊

I was taught that good deeds lose much of their goodness when you talk about them.

“The nicest feeling in the world is to do a good deed anonymously-and have somebody find out.” - Oscar Wilde
Click to expand...
Yes and no to all of that. Most of the time the person i'm 'doing' for at least knows. Sometimes observers. Context is important. To talk about the things you do for others in response to questions about it is different than the person who frequently blows their own horn about all their 'good works'. Those folks are often the same ones who feel that helping someone gives them some sort of say in the person's future choices, and a pass on judging how the people got into the position of 'needing' help.

But then i have a sister who is one of those i'm describing--she in fact at times insists on 'helping' people when they have tried mightily to decline.
 
Like Diva, i take most every opportunity i get to lend a hand, because many have helped me over the years, and i know that beyond any other outcome--doing good for others is healthy (physically and mentally) for me--it releases 'feel good' chems in the brain.
Usually i talk in strictly general terms about the types of things i do. Even when a young single Mom as long as i had enough of everything for my kids till next payday i would help out friends and neighbors with what little cash was on hand; i've given people rides, and picked up things they dropped and returned (yes even cash); i've been 'dawn patrol' for people feeling suicidal and talked people down from being fearful or anxious; i've delayed my own plans or gone out of my way to tell parents when their youngsters or teen kids have done something helpful/good; and to give parents encouragement when they handled public acting out by their kids well--paying forward what older people had done for me when mine were young.

Sometimes what i do may seem like interfering. Calling animal control on someone, or telling neighbors if they don't take their young son with burned arm to hospital i will call child services on them (they did, turned out he had a third degree burn that definitely needed treatment, as i suspected--it was almost one whole side of forearm and looked worse than any burn i'd ever seen) but in those rare cases the 'deed' was for benefit of someone who couldn't speak up for or get help themselves--an animal or child.

When i drove taxi in Laramie i once took an elderly fare to the hospital because she was so disoriented to where she was. Her visiting caregiver had not shown up, so she apparently missed meds and was naming street in Butte, MT she wanted to go to. i did that as much for her neighbors in the condo complex (lots of shared walls) as for her, if she'd decided to cook for herself and then forgot? i felt someone who could provide more help/supervision needed to know the situation. Some other driver (including my boss man) would likely have simply refused to take her anywhere. And turned out the hospital was familiar with her case and could contact her family.
 
Last edited:
Not an Oscar Wilde fan but I'm with Aunt Bea.
I don't understand people who need accolades or applause every time
they go something good anymore than those who need to be thanked
for service to humanity or for doing their job.
Just do it. No need to tell everyone how great you were.
You know. The Angels know. God knows.
 
Aunt Bea said:
Maybe. 🤫😉😊

I was taught that good deeds lose much of their goodness when you talk about them.

“The nicest feeling in the world is to do a good deed anonymously-and have somebody find out.” - Oscar Wilde
Click to expand...

Same! My dad is the best example of that. I found out in the few years I did home health in the area I grew up about things he did for people I visited that my mom didn't even know he had done ...black, white, rich, poor.... doesn't matter with him if he sees a need. He has a very "churchy" younger sister who runs around doing things for people who often don't want or need her help just so she can climb the church steeple and shout it to the world. Apparently my grandparents instilled in their kids the value of helping others, but she got the wires crossed somehow....

One of these days I'm going to ask her in all her pew warming has she ever heard a sermon on Matthew 6:1-4 "Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the churches and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you."
 
Last edited:
win231 said:
Yes, I do but I'm not especially comfortable talking about it because I don't like to brag & it's difficult to describe without sounding like bragging.
1. When I was in my 20's, I was exiting the freeway around 2:00am & at the bottom of the off ramp was an older-model, beat-up Toyota Corolla with lots of steam coming out of the hood. And it was 40 degrees that night. I walked up to the driver's window & an elderly woman was sitting there. (no cell phones back then). I asked her how far she was from home. She seemed confused & couldn't tell me where she lived; maybe dementia or Alzheimer's. I asked to see her driver's license. She found it & from her birth date, she was 91. From her address, she was around 15 miles from home. I said I could drive her home. Seeing how readily she got in my car, I was thinking how easily she could become a victim.
On the way to her house, she had some clear moments & she told me she lived with her son.
We got to her house & after 15 minutes of knocking on the door, (she had no key) her son opened the door & he was very angry that I woke him up! He also seemed angry that I brought his mother home! When I said, "Maybe your mom should have a key to the house," he said, "Mind your own damn business." Amazing........
Click to expand...
No good deed goes unpunished....Oscar Wilde.
 
A few years back, when I was a little younger, and younger than my neighbors...I would bring in their garbage cans.
They didn't know it was me, but word got around.

But, it was just my way of giving back...because they have all looked out for me, or helped me in their own small way.

I asked if I could help this elderly gent that was parked next to me at Kohl's the other day. He had a wheelchair, and was attempting to get his wife out of the car. He handled it on his own, but appreciated that I had asked.

Yes, I will help whenever I can.
 
Bretrick said:
Sounds like the elderly lady's son would be quite happy when she passed away. He might/would gain access to her money.
Doing the right thing can sometimes put us at odds with those that do not have the same values.
You done the right thing and it is your friend who need to examine their motives.
How would they have felt if their wallet/purse went missing and the finder kept the money?
Click to expand...
I asked them how they would feel if the finder kept their money. One of them said, "Well, life is rough."
The other one said the old "Finders, Keepers."
 
I believe that we are on this earth to do the best we can and in turn that means helping others. We do not need to announce the fact, the feeling one gets from helping others is thanks in itself. the good that I see in others fills my heart. Because of my location, right now I am thinking of all those young people trying to help others in desperate circumstances.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top