With A Little Help

Have you still ice skated if you went around and around with the help of a walker-ish sled-ish thing that keeps you balanced?

Have you still cooked a gourmet meal if your chopping and measuring was followed by someone else's stirring and serving?

Have you still served your community if you made meal packages just once, not every month, or given a homeless person some food from your bag just once, not every time you were asked?

Have you still helped a friend if all you could offer was a kind email rather than a hug or a cup of coffee?

Have you still accomplished getting a job if the job is just temporary or if you got it because of who you know or if it's not the job you imagined you'd have?

Have you made the right choices if you still need help answering some of the hard questions?

Have you made the right decisions if you're still seeking advice about the next set of decisions?

Have you done right by your children if they still ask questions that other people can answer better than you?

I would venture to say that the answer in all these cases is "yes." Just as finding a job with help is still finding a job, skating with help, cooking with help, and raising your kids with help are all still real. Getting help doesn't lessen an accomplishment. It simply reminds us that accepting help, whether of the mechanical or personal variety, is a show of determination, not one of weakness, a show of ingenuity, not one of dependence.

Today, I was glad that I had the walker-ish sled-ish thing to help me on the ice. It turned what could have been a five-minute painful event into an hour-long demonstration (at least to myself) of what I could do. I am glad to have had the friends who helped me get jobs and the co-chefs who help make dinner happen. I'm glad to admit that a little help, well, helps. And it makes being out there on the ice of life just a little more secure.