My friend Amelia Stansell has been actively involved with fighting human trafficking for a number of years. She recently posted on Facebook a reminder of the sign that any victim can silently flash to ask for help. I’ve added a link below so you can learn to recognize it and react. It’s an open palm, facing out, then the thumb is tucked in, with the four fingers folding down over it.
The photo at the top of this post is a card that was included in a package of cards I bought years ago. It hangs on my writing room’s bulletin board so that I see it every day. I’m not sure why that card holds such appeal to me, but it does.
In fact, when I was first establishing my company Lifted Up, I had imagined using that photo as my logo. But I learned that real photographic images do not convert to good logos. But Michelle Coe of BlueSkyPhoenix used four open palms to create my logo, so the concept is still there!
My daughter Laura teaches Baby Girl (now 15 ½ months) some sign language to go with her words. American Sign Language uses this as a sign for “help me”: One open palm holding the other closed palm with a thumbs-up gesture. The open palm lifts the thumbs-up hand.
But Baby Girl has adopted her own version of the “help me” sign. It’s exactly the photo in this post; both hands open, palms open, facing up, pinkies touching. She looks at you directly and imploringly when she flashes it. I haven’t yet captured it in a photo, but it is easily one of my favorite things she does right now, and probably will be forever.
Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. It’s recognizing that we may not know everything. Asking for help is the capacity to understand that someone else has the expertise, skills, and strengths that we lack, AND being willing to ask, “Hey, can you help me out here?”
There are many reasons we hesitate to ask for help. Perhaps we don’t want to be a bother, we don’t want to appear stupid, or we may not know exactly what it is we need.
The happy truth is that many people are generous with help when they’re asked! I’ve asked for help on many occasions as I kicked off my children’s book author career. The one and only “Sorry but no” response I received included why she couldn’t help me. And that negative response led me to a better solution than I would have had otherwise!
So go ahead and ask for help the next time you need it. And of course, BE that help when someone needs you.
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Sign for violence at home – need help
