23: Take my strong hand, child!
unless you'd rather not, which I understand
Take my strong hand, child!
I know, I know, I sent one of these out only days ago. What am I doing? I promise, this one is short and for a purpose, so I hope you’ll bear with me.
Trying to help people, or even considering helping people, is weird for me. Whenever I think about trying to help someone I feel strangely inadequate. Like, am I even doing well enough to try and assist someone who might be in direr straits than I am? Who the heck am I to be offering help in the first place? What secrets do I know about navigating this world that can so quickly take anything and everything from a person from one moment to the next?
Psst, the answer is none. I know no secrets. I’m shuffling along like everybody else.
So why in the world would you choose to take my hand to keep you from falling from the ledge?
That’s how I feel when it comes to the prospect of helping someone. I’m willing to do it, but I feel all awkward and weird about it, and I expect the person I’m trying to help to react like the guy hanging from the ledge, hoping for something better to come along, even at the risk of falling to their doom.
Does anybody else feel that way? Most of the time I feel like it’d be better to just do nothing. Well, okay, not better, but it’d be safer, yeah? If you don’t risk sticking your neck out then it’s less likely your head’s getting lopped off. I’m not exactly in an unassailable position myself, y’know?
Heck, are any of us?
I had a conversation with a good friend during the midst of the pandemic where I admitted that when things turn sideways or start going poorly I tend to close ranks. Focus on taking care of me and mine and damn the rest. And I feel like that’s mostly still the case as I write this.
But recently I came across a post from a guy I used to work with years ago. Now, I’m uncertain if he’d even consider me a friend or not, but he’s a talented artist and a good guy who’s fallen on hard times and was open and vulnerable enough to ask for help. And so I helped in the small way that I was able. And then I thought, “Hey, you’ve got a newsletter that people occasionally read and enjoy(probably). You should try and spread the word!”
So that’s what I’m doing. Here. Now.
Dan and his family are having a tough go of it. If you click the image above it’ll take you to their gofundme where you can read a bit more about what’s happening. Then if you can give a little to help them out, or just spread the word then I’d (and they’d, I’m sure) appreciate it greatly, o’ alert ones.
That’s it. That’s the alert. Thanks for reading. I promise the next one will be about comics, my comics and more comics, as advertised.