Can someone be too helpful?

I’m not asking this as in “if she offers one more suggestion as to how my hero should kiss the heroine I’ll kill her” but as in when does helping others become harmful to oneself?

As many of you know, I have two sisters. One of whom is in the army reserves down in Georgia. My sister Patti has just recently gotten off active duty after being called up for the war in Iraq. She was one of the lucky ones who didn’t have to go overseas this time. (She went over twice for Desert Storm.) She even got to stay at home instead of living on the base, but she had to drive two hours each way in order to do that. Many times she had to work 12 + hour shifts then drive the two hours home and take care of her husband and three kids. (My brother in law really pitched in, but he was working nights so she had to get home.) Oh, and the kicker is, she took a 20% pay cut.

So now here is this mother of three serving her country, putting in 17-hour days, missing out on family events, and basically running herself into the ground and going into debt out the wa-freaking-zoo. After two years of this madness, her tour ended in March and she was able to go back to her old job and work towards digging herself out of debt. The whole family got together at her house in April and things were looking up.

In comes KATRINA. And here is where I think her big heart is going to be the death of her. She no sooner starts to get back to a routine than she hears about the hurricane coming into LA. My niece’s boyfriend is from LA. My sister invites his (the boyfriend, who is very nice by the way) mother and brother to stay with them after they are evacuated. So now she has four kids, three adults, and three (possibly more) dogs to feed and clean up after. AND since her department in the army also works with FEMA, she might end up re-activated!!!!

My sister is obviously a much nicer person than I am. I wish there was some way for me to help her. I’m feeling extremely frustrated right now because she’s in Georgia and I’m in the North East and can do very little from here.

I’m a firm believer in the Karma Wheel. I think that when you’re on the bottom of it and everything is shitty, eventually the wheel will turn and it’ll be your turn on top. But lately it seems like my sister has gotten rolled over and crushed under the Karma Wheel. And all because she’s a kind person who wants to help others! I need to figure out a way to help her before she helps others right into the poor house.

Anyone have any ideas?