the test being, i think, do you help another human being, or do you protect your self-interests. or in less abstract terms, how much time should you devote to helping someone else, in something that is both draining emotionally and time consuming for you and that will most likely drag on for several weeks, but in which, nonetheless, you feel you're most suited to provide this help? that is, how much time and help are you willing to give to such a situation, at a time when you are supremely rushed to write a thesis and want to secure your own future by doing it well? and because i read fairy tales, i feel i am being tested - that i'm called on to make a choice. but if this were a different kind of story, then is it hubris to think that you and you alone are fated to do a difficult thing, and is it your duty or business to make it your duty and business, or should i see to it that what is in fact my business and duty is not neglected by taking on other people's business? most people will counsel the second, and perhaps i should too, but it nags me. i would like to talk to people about it.