Why I Help Others

Helping is the act of giving someone your service or resources to make an activity or

situation easier for him/her. There are many reasons and theories why people help. Some people

help because they expect to get a reward in return. Another reason for helping is to pay back the

help that was given to you by someone before, such as your parents and relatives. Other people

help because they think it’s their social responsibility to help, such as to typhoon victims.

Finally, people help other members of their group to compete and become better than other

groups. In the next paragraphs, I will explain my personal reasons for helping others, my

thoughts towards helping, and how helping affects my social self.

To elaborate on the different reasons for helping, I will explain why I help others. One of

the concrete ways I help is by giving (a small amount of) money to poor homeless people on the

streets. My main reason for helping them is because I feel sympathy for them due to the hard and

unfair situation that they are in. The second reason I help is to spread positivity and start a

positive change. I believe that if I help some, that person as well as the people who saw me

helping will be happy and inspired to also help in the future. Recently, my mom asked me to

sponsor at least one student when I get a job and/or have my own business and also ask the

student(s) I helped to also sponsor a student when financially stable. For my third reason, I help

because I have the responsibility to pay back for the help I received. For example, I want to give

all my salaries for the first five years after graduating to my family and relatives because they

took care of me and provided all my needs. After then can I only focus on having and providing

for my own family and personal needs and desires. Finally, I help others because I believe that

the help will return in unexpected ways and timings. I also believe in the concept of “treasures in

heaven” where I will reap the rewards of my good deeds in the afterlife.
 Helping is generally a good thing. I definitely want more people to help and do charity

works because it guarantees one thing: it will improve the situation of a person. Moreover, when

we help, our main goal must be to spread positivity and make a positive change. But expecting to

receive help in return is not a bad thing because sometimes, if not always, we do receive the help

in ways and moments we do not expect. And like morality, helping may not be officially stated

as a social responsibility of everyone, but using it as a reason to help must not pressure us to do

so even when we are the ones who need the help at the moment. Helping has no deadlines nor a

minimum amount to be given, so you must only give what you have when you already can. On

our end, we may have different reasons and means for helping but on the other end, there is only

one result, the people who will receive our help will be happier and will have a better situation.

Helping also has positive effects on the person who helped. First, it gives you a better self-

schema or how you define yourself. People who do charity works are generally happier and more

positive than those who do not. Even if you have only helped a few times, these memories make

you feel and think better about yourself. And with an early desire to help, you will have a good

possible self where you expect to be able to help more people in the future. Helping gives you

the satisfaction and a mindset that you are a good person and your good deeds are helping others,

as well as yourself.

In this essay, I discussed the different reasons why I and other people help, my thoughts

about helping, and how helping affects how we think and act (i.e., our social-self). To conclude,

whatever our reasons are for helping others and however big or small our help is, it will make a

positive change because there are a lot of individuals, families, and communities who

desperately need whatever help they can get. Again, there are no standards in helping, so just

help whatever and whenever you can.