Help me with Cigarettes and a Knife

I began reading Buyology by Martin Lindstrom before I left for Hong Kong last week. One of the first findings presented in the book was how recent addition of graphic visuals on cigarette packs did not help inhibit smokers from getting their daily nicotine dose. The study said that the visuals matter of fact even stimulated the portion of the brain responsible for the craving fix and that the guilty feeling arose not from their acknowledgment of cigarette’s effects but from the craving they felt. Indeed a devious brain ploy.

Just like the graphic visuals, we sometimes do things we perceive as most helpful when in fact we do not help at all. And sometimes, such action even worsens the situation instead of making things better.

One may now ask, why even pursue those who helped out in the first place and why not just go after those who did not help at all? First, those who did not help at all are irrelevant in today’s entry. Second, helping is not about having the intention to help. It’s about the actual benefit gained by the helped party. Borrowing a metaphor from Alanis’ Ironic, we may perceive that we helped somebody by gifting them with ten thousand spoons but if s/he only needed a knife, then were we really able to help him/her?

Sometimes, we just have to reflect on the kind of help we lend to other people. Of course, thank you very much for your intention to help. We need more people who genuinely want to help. And since the intention already exists in you, why not go the distance and give what they really need and not what you think they need. Only then will we be able to help others in the fullest aspect of the word.

Only then will we be able to prevent smokers’ cigarette crave and provide the knife that Alanis’ Ironic persona needs.