Granted that other people should be allowed to serve, but there are plenty of others needing help, too.

will accept you more strongly if you ask for help in a very specific way, and then accept that help
That might be true, but requires two actions (asking for something directly, and being intentionally-weak enough to accept help) that are quite difficult for me. I have a strong, almost-arrogant streak that tells me that *other people* might need help, but I'm somehow above that. And don't *need* anyone, per se.

This probably means just that I've been lucky enough thus far in life to avoid any really terrible crises, but (shrug).