The Other Four Letter Word

Happy Tuesday Everyone. Hoping your day is going well. There's a song lyric that says Monday is one thing but Tuesday is just as bad. Chicago is very cloudy and something is going on the atmosphere. As such, it really made me ponder something. People are very proud. People are very secretive. Sheltering in place has made us a nation of survivors. We're in survival mode, and we need to take care of me and mine. I need to get what I need, no matter what the cost. But there's another phenomenon that's going on. People are not reaching out to all the services available to them. For some reason, help has turned into the new four letter word. For some reason, people don't like asking for help. People don't like to acknowledge that they need help. Even when help is offered, it is often refused for a number of reasons.  And you just wonder where is the charity? Where is the humanity? Where is the love for one another? In this political environment, we're so ready to just snap and tear each other's throats out without giving credence to points that the other side might be making. I'm just hoping and praying that we get over that. When we as humans had to survive, we had to depend upon one another. There was this thing called teamwork, and it seems that that has gone out the window. Yes we have zoom meetings. Yes we can text. Yes we have social media. Yes we can stay connected. However, I'm finding that (much like the news) the world is getting faker and faker. Bonds are getting weaker and weaker. The assistance just isn't being offered and passed along to those who truly need it. Now, in my research for this article. I did find a list of about eight reasons why people, especially introverts, are very nervous about asking others for help:

1. You Tell Yourself that You Have it Easy Compared to Others

2. Fear of Rejection

3. You’ve Experienced Dependency in Other People

4. You Don’t Want to Feel Like You Have Burdened Someone Else

5. Reciprocity

6. Fear of Losing Control

7. A Belief in Self-Reliance

8. Overwhelmed by the Potential Energy Drain

Now, there is a notion of reciprocity that if you're asking for help you will need to be able to offer something in return. Bartering, if you will. And sometimes people don't value who they are. They don't value what they have. They don't value what it is that they can offer to other people. They don't want to seem like beggars who are always asking and always on the take. They want to be able to participate. They want to be able to add value, as well as receive value from another individual. No matter how gregarious the offer is, there's an unconscious obligation to repay for the investment and energy spent on you.  If you help your brother, your brother is going to help you.  So many times in this pandemic, people have been siloed and cornered off. Categorized into different sections and labeled into warring factions. Its to the point where you can't even accept help from the other side because it's a sign of weakness. We need to come together and stop fighting each other. There is nothing wrong with asking for help. There's nothing wrong for receiving help, and there's nothing wrong with volunteering your services during the time that you need of help. Let's take the stigma out of receiving assistance and help each other. Share your comments below. Thank you for reading this article and supporting this blogspace. Stay safe, masked and healthy.  Take Care and God Bless!!!