Usually, people think helping others is going to be very difficult. That's what I thought before I started writing this, but as I began, I realized that helping is actually quite simple and that I had already been doing it more than I knew.
I always carry Mentos, Maizhu, and two kinds of candy in my bag.
When I leave them on my desk, friends come over and ask if they can have some, and I always say yes. I also approach friends passing by or those who look a little tired, and offer them something before they even ask. The reason is simple. Sharing is just fun, and seeing how happy it makes them feels just as good.
I belong to the public relations department of the student council.
Whenever there is a school event, I record it and save the footage on my SSD. The reason is not just to keep them for myself, but to share them with others so that everyone can look back and relive the feelings of those days.
I also donate blood whenever I get the chance. I have done it four times so far, and I am planning to go again this Saturday. After each donation, a quiet sense of pride slowly rises from somewhere deep inside and fills my consciousness. That subtle, hard-to-name feeling is something I genuinely look forward to. On top of that, knowing that my donation could help someone completely unrelated to me makes it all the more meaningful.
I have also had experiences of receiving help. The day before yesterday, my finger got caught between a sliding door, and the skin was slightly torn. The school nurse applied medicine, and teachers in the staff room did as well. When I first went, one of them said it must have really hurt. Just that one small remark stayed with me longer than I expected.
There was also a memorable moment during my third blood donation. The nurse at the donation center gave me extra souvenirs and even handed me a scrubbing sponge as a gift, saying I was doing something good. I hadn't expected any of it, which made her warm words and small gift feel even bigger.
Before writing this, when I tried to think of times I had helped others, the first thing that came to mind was blood donation. It was something I had consciously chosen and kept doing. But as I kept thinking, smaller things started coming back to me one by one. The candy in my bag, the videos I had recorded, the snacks I had handed to a tired-looking friend. These were things I had never even thought of as help. Maybe that is what harmonious living really looks like. Not something that only exists in special moments, but something already woven into the small, everyday things we do without thinking.