Why is it so hard to accept help?
There was an interesting article in the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday about the Taiwanese government finally agreeing to accept international aid for Typhoon Morakot. Sadly, we've seen this sort of thing before in numerous instances such as Cyclone Nargis in Burma last year or during the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. There seems to be a reluctance on the part of some countries to accept international assistance during a crisis.
Before we starting discounting this reluctance as a cultural phenomenon tied to the Asian concept of face, we need to take a look a bit closer to home. My own city of San Francisco refuses to take mutual aid seriously. One high ranking official even scoffed to the press, "we give mutual aid; we don't take it." I once saw a member of a public safety department hammered by his department head in the EOC because he had placed some outside mutual aid resources on alert in error. I've also seen departments within the same jurisdiction reluctant to ask another for help.
So it makes you wonder whether this reluctance to accept help in emergencies is a common trait we all share. We all want to believe we're the best, that we can handle whatever comes our way. We want to be like the guys in the commercial who get hammered, dust themselves off, and say, "I'm good." But when we let our pride and arrogance get in the way of providing needed resources to those we serve, it's time to readjust our attitude.
So are you ready to accept outside help?