Accept appropriate help from other people when they volunteer it. It’s the cases where you’re imposing on other people against their will: That’s what you’ve got to watch out for.

"Accept [appropriate] help from other people when they volunteer it. I saw a case years back: a former policeman in Singapore who was constantly afraid of being in debt to other people. He was living in relative poverty. He’d retired from the police force to look after his mother, and they were living on a very small pension. A group of people came one day to bring some food to me, and one woman had prepared extra food so that the policeman could take it home for him and for his mother. But he refused her gift, out of fear of being in debt to her. That offended her so much that she cursed him. Literally. She yelled, “I curse you!” three times.

That’s being too worried about having debts. When people voluntarily give you help, you accept it, unless the help is inappropriate in one way or another. But as for appropriate help, those should be the kinds of debts you don’t mind. It’s the cases where you’re imposing on other people against their will: That’s what you’ve got to watch out for. And try your best to be as light as possible on the world in general."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "In Harmlessness Is Strength" (Meditations9)

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