That's one of the delicate little details of being brought up in polite society: do I accept a kindness? I suppose I might worry that someone is offering me help out of a sense of duty, that he doesn't really want to go to that much trouble ... but then, what does that say about how much trust I'm putting in the other person? I know that my knee-jerk reaction would be to refuse; my reflex would be to think that accepting it is a bad thing.
But when you say it like this ... I can't help but think that I've probably got it all wrong. If I were to go out of my way to try to help someone else, I think I'd want my offer to be accepted, not "politely" rebuffed.
Anyway, very thought-provoking. Thanks for the snapshot. =)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2003-06-02 06:25 pm (UTC)That's one of the delicate little details of being brought up in polite society: do I accept a kindness? I suppose I might worry that someone is offering me help out of a sense of duty, that he doesn't really want to go to that much trouble ... but then, what does that say about how much trust I'm putting in the other person? I know that my knee-jerk reaction would be to refuse; my reflex would be to think that accepting it is a bad thing.
But when you say it like this ... I can't help but think that I've probably got it all wrong. If I were to go out of my way to try to help someone else, I think I'd want my offer to be accepted, not "politely" rebuffed.
Anyway, very thought-provoking. Thanks for the snapshot. =)