One of the hazards of increasing age is that even in the U.S. where being old is considered a serious disability, people start asking advice.
I think I would have given better advice when I was twelve and my mind was pure and clear.
Sometimes it is easy to help because a person may already know perfectly well what he or she is going to do, and has no interest whatsoever in any counsel one might bestow. They just feel the need to bring decisions out of their heads to share.
The difficulty lies when a person with enormous problems dumps them on my lap. What do I say? "There is no hope for you because you choose not to stop getting high every day"?
I choose to interpret Buddhist philosophy as while acknowledging the mutual beingness of us all, compassion should be disinterested as well as universal. One of the Four Vows is to save all beings. In inscrutable Buddhaspeak does that mean saving one's self?
To get down to brass tacks: I help and advise to the best of my ability without compromising myself, and I expect no miracles.
