Helping

The thing I most liked about the chapter “Helping” was how the author demonstrated the difference between helping someone and helping someone cheat, especially the fact that he was able to provide a cultural background in all of it. The truth of the matter is that we are taught from little to seek help from those who sit next to us, as Cooper clearly states. For example, I remember when I was a little girl and my teacher use to say: “If you don’t know, ask whoever is next to you. If they don’t know, call me.” There is a very fine line between explaining how to do something and telling the person what to do. Sometimes is hard to help someone without actually doing the work for them.

      We are taught in a way that we feel that winning is not the most important but competing is. This feeling is taught to us in many ways. For example, in Puerto Rico there was a television program called “Uncle Nobel” where it showed winners and almost winners. In my opinion, that feeling of competition was not well encouraged as it is today. Being competitive is not a bad thing, one should always aspire to win or obtain a goal. However, too much focus on being competitive can cause unnecessary frustration and not as a motivational method for bettering one’s self.

                                  

     Learning to be fair is one of the most complicated things in life. Learning to differentiate between helping someone and doing the work for them is the trick. It is not always easy to tell someone you like no without them being offended. Culturally speaking, it’s especially hard for Puerto Ricans. We are not all able to obtain the same level of education and that can create limitations. However, we need to motivate ourselves to overcome any limitations and that is what will help us shine the brightest.