Jumping to the Rescue

This week a friend bought a box of cards. She was siting next to me when she opened the box. It took her like 30 seconds and a couple of attempts to open it, and in that short amount of time  I offered to do it for her. She declined kindly. Not for the first time I realized that at times I am over eager to fix things. I explained to my friend that I didn't think she was incapable it is just that I like figuring out simple mechanisms and making them work. I like it when my roommate hands me an offending package, razor, lid, etc. Instead of being annoying I think it is kind of fascinating to see if I can figure out how it is supposed to work, why it isn't working, and if I can fix it.
Later that day I was at this same friend's house and when the drain of her bathroom needed to be drained she said it had to be done by hand because the little plug wasn't hooked up. She then promptly volunteered me for the task, adding "because Becca would think it's cool."
I drained it for her and then reconnected it... because I could.

It made me think, liking to figure things out and fix them is not a bad trait, and it is usually a good one, but realizing why I jump to the rescue and being willing to give the person time to fix their own dilemmas (unless they want help) is good too. However, realizing why I volunteer to the rescue made me wonder about all the times people have jumped to my rescue and I was annoyed... but maybe they just jumped at the chance because they liked to do whatever I was struggling with... not because they think I'm incompetent or whatever.