Helpouts by Google Helps Out

Need help? Try Helpouts by Google, started early November, 2013. This site hooks up people who need help with virtually anything with people who can give that help by video. It doesn't actually send the person to your house to move your furniture, but it can hook you up with someone who has suggestions of how you can move the furniture more easily.
The way it works is this: providers (individuals or companies) sign up with a title of what they are offering, for instance, guitar lessons. They give a paragraph with a more detailed description, when they are available, and the price. It can be a set price, such as $50 for an hour session or it can be priced by the minute. The prices people have set range from free up to $150 for 45 minutes for the offers I viewed. There is no contact information visible, that likely appears when you click to sign up for something. People who want to learn a skill, or need help with a problem, can look it up and find someone who is offering the service they need. Or, you can just browse and see if something strikes your fancy. For some of the Helpouts, you schedule your session ahead of time, for others, you can do it right away, depending on how the provider has set it up.
Categories include Fitness and Nutrition, Health, Art and Music, Cooking, Computers and Electronics, Fashion and Beauty, Education and Careers, and Home and Garden (at this time). Within those categories are hundreds of topics, which, over time, I am sure will become thousands. Perhaps your roof has a leak, or your souffle always falls, or you want to learn to play the piano.Your computer has a virus, your dog has fleas or you want to lose 6 1/2 pounds. You get the idea.
Helpout sessions are done by video connection, so the two people involved can see each other. (I won't go into how this is done, you can learn about it on the Helpouts website if you are interested.) If the session is about something that needs to be fixed, the camera can be aimed at that object so that the person at the other end can see it. At the end of the session, there is the ever-present five star rating system and you can leave  feedback. And, there is a 100% money back guarantee.
As their home page states, Real help from real people in real time. I think this is gonna be big.

Helping Others

I was at the grocery store last week. The woman in the checkout line behind me was using one of those electric scooters that many stores provide, with a big basket on the front of it full of groceries. I asked if she needed assistance putting the groceries up on the conveyor belt, and she was very much relieved. Both she and the cashier repeatedly thanked me. It made me very pleased that I was able to help, that I had offered, and that I helped her. At the same time, it made me sad. Why? Because they both felt the need to thank me so profusely.

It should be human nature to offer help whenever we see it may be needed, and we can provide it. It shouldn't be seen as such an extraordinary deed. No one religion has a monopoly on helping other people, including strangers. It is not unique to any one culture. Rather, it is a human thing to do. It is a part of living in a community.

Whenever I see someone struggling to get in or out of a car, to reach something in a grocery store, etc, I ask if they need any assistance. If they say “No”, I say, “Good for you”. If they say “Yes”, I will either jump in or ask what they want me to do, depending on how obvious it is what needs to be done. People are often too embarrassed to ask for help, but relieved when it is offered. I am sure there are some people who are annoyed or insulted that I would ask, I hope that my praiseful response appeases that.

The person needing help could be any one of us, depending on the circumstances. If you don't need help today, maybe you did last week, or will next week, or next decade. The person offering help should be every one of us who can, in whatever ways we can. I know that many of my readers are in pain, and/or have varying levels of fatigue and functional abilities. Even so, there may be areas where you can offer your help: holding a door open, feeding a baby, reading to a child or person undergoing chemo, etc. Remember: if you are the one receiving assistance, you are providing an opportunity for another person to be helpful, thus making them feel good about themselves.