Helping people

I'm a member of a time bank.  We are supposed to earn and spend hours by helping others and being helped.

Hardly anyone does it.

Today, I spent about seven hours helping someone.  Tomorrow, I'll spend about an hour helping someone else.

I'm not doing it as part of the time bank system.  I'm doing because it's what I want to be doing.

Why doesn't the time bank work?

I want to help and be helped by the people I like.  When helping people means doing something constructive with people whose company I enjoy, I feel like I'm privileged that they have allowed me to be part of their lives.  This is not something I want them to pay me for in time bank hours.

It is useful though to have the time bank.  At times, all of us may need things our pool of friends does not provide.  At the first time bank meeting I attended, it was exciting to see the way people's needs and offers were matching up.

I have more thoughts about how to make the time bank work, but that's to write at another time.  Right now is a moment to just feel grateful for the opportunity I had today to be a part of helping people I like.