Why It Doesn't Work

     Its been going on for over 50 years.  Over a half of a century and it hasn't gotten any better, at least not here, not in this state.  It has been a battle ground for all this time, a war, a war on poverty.

     We have wars against drugs.  That doesn't seem to be working.  We fight against crime.....that's an oxymoron.  Then there is this 50 plus year war on poverty, that seems to amount to giving people something for nothing, and it hasn't changed a thing.

      Any time there is a fight, a battle, a war,  some one is going to lose.  Plain and simple.  That's why it doesn't work.  Everyone can't win and nobody likes to lose.  When only one side is doing all the fighting that is like pumping up a tire with a hole in it.

     Jesus said something that most of us fail to understand....there will always be poor people.  

     Does that mean we should turn our backs on them and ignore them?  Absolutely not.  But Jesus said something else and it goes kind of like this.....when you have done all you can do, shake the dust off and move on.  Yes, I know he was talking about spreading his teachings, but it applies to anything that doesn't work after a time.  

     We are suppose to be in service to each other.  We need to take care of the sick, the elderly, the down trodden.  We need to have empathy for our fellow man.  We need to heap kindness, especially on those we dislike.  We need to take care of the poor. When we do this, we teach.  When we teach, people learn.  If there is no learning, there is no progress.  If no one is learning anything, it's time to move on because when all the teachers are dead and gone, who is left to teach the next generation?  No one.

     People need food and shelter.  But there are a lot of things they can live without.  They can live without cellphones, ipads, vehicles, tattoos, flat screen TV's, new clothes and $200 tennis shoes, just to name a view.  Sure, some of those things are fun and may make life more enjoyable, but if you want them, then LEARN do something to EARN them. 

     It seems to be human nature to do just enough to get by.  Not everyone can or will be a quantum physicist, that takes a lot of hard work and studying.  When people know they don't have to do anything to get money for food, housing, etc., then they do just that. They continue to do nothing. 

     If we continue this one sided fight to give people things they do not need and continue to make them unaccountable for their actions, or lack there of, we will have created a deep hole full of people with their hand out.  We can put a ladder in the hole but the problem will be this, no one will know how to use it.