format_quote Originally Posted by
Flos
Thanks brother for explaining. And "taking care of ourselves" is a good reminder. For instance, I have to work on that a lot. I don't care about myself, rather about others and then I end up in troubles. I had been a bit scared of putting myself first...
Yes, that is the problem of a lot of people who try to be a good person. Helping is never bad...you should always help other people if you are able to do so.
However it starts to be a problem when other people let you help them just because of their own convenience...because then, it is not helping anymore...it is taking advantage of someone.
There was this guy living in our town...our families know each other...one day his dishwasher broke down and he asked me if I could repair it...so I went to his house, discovered the malfunctioning part, ordered a new one and repaired his dishwasher...he was so happy, he thanked me a thousand times.
I felt really good about it. Then after a while he started to call me more frequently to repair stuff, usually something small like a toaster or mixer or something...and everytime he did thank me a lot...and I never suspected anything behind it.
But when he asked me to repair a second toaster (a different one than the first one) I got suspicious...because which person owns two toasters and uses them both at the same time?
and why would someone ask anyone to repair his toaster when he has a second one at home?
So I started to get suspicious and discovered that he collected those broken stuff...let me repair them and then sold them for a few bucks at the flea market.
I never confronted him with this...but I did stop helping this guy out.