"People should help themselves"
Over the last few weeks I’ve
talked with family and friends about world events, Peace Corps, politics, and
my view of life. I’m not going stir something up with politics, but I thought I would give another installment of
my view of the world.
Many Americans think that they are responsible for their own success and that government assistance (“to those people”) is a cause of concern, a waste of money. Some think that if “those people” were smart and worked hard then they would not need help. The theory is that (some/most/those) people who need help are lazy, and the aid from the government will make them even more dependent and lazy. (I would say tell that to Exon but I said no politics.)
I’ve given this a lot of thought and obviously since I have a of history volunteering with the Red Cross, St. Vincent de Paul, Habitat, and Peace Corps you likely already know my answer. We should help others – that is what Christ says, what all the major religions say, and what feels right. The “We” includes individuals, charities, and “the government” – another name for the people in general.
Are a person's decisions and actions the primary factors related to their success or failure? Certainly some decisions have major lifelong implications. Some actions are helpful, some horrible. Our decisions and actions contribute to our success and failure, but there are many factors beyond our control.
My wife and I worked hard and made sacrifices before we met. This continued after we married in mutual support. We made the decisions that we thought were best at the time. We worked very hard. We also volunteered at our church and in the community. We were successful – wealth and family income not in the top 1%, but very high – I’m rather embarrassed to say how high.
So people could say that our success was based on our hard work and good decisions. Those were certainly factors. The question is how big a part? How much because of things beyond our control?
When I look back on my life, on all the things that I did, all the work, all the sacrifices, all the decisions – I generously give myself 10% credit for my success. In my estimation 90% of the reason for my success was beyond my control.
I was born in America – rather than in a country in Africa or other places around the world with fewer opportunities. I was born in the late 1950’s as a white male. I grew to be tall and slender. These factors made it much easier for me to get a job than say a short overweight minority woman.
I was born without many “defects”. I am left handed with dyslexia and maybe other learning issues. I struggled in school but was successful in my undergraduate and graduate studies. I was very successful in software engineering, system engineering, and software research – able to solve problems and design simple elegant solutions better than many other people.
My theory was that half of the problems were easy for right handed people and half were easy for left handed people. Half were easy for people that looked at the world normally and half for those that saw it reversed backward in that dyslexia lens. The majority, right handed normal people, were able to solve many problems (that I might have found difficult) - I got to apply my skills to those that seemed hard to most people.
True or not – my ability to solve problems was in part training and experience and part (a large part I think) something else I was “born” with that made me different from others.
Another example. When I was little I was acting as the Statue of Liberty. I was walking on top of the back of a couch with my torch in my left hand. The torch happened to be a paring knife, but I had a good imagination. Anyway, as expected, I fell and you can still see the scar to the left of the eye. A quarter of an inch, literally, to the right and I would have been blind in one eye. That would have impacted my school and my job opportunities. One little incident before 1st grade could have dramatically changed my life. Perhaps it should have been a pirate’s life for me.
There have been many times when I just missed an accident by arriving at the scene a little early or late. None of that was in my control and a major accident could have had profound impact on my life.
And I should not forget the people behind the scenes - who helped or hurt me – all forces beyond my control. Everyone has people like that - some helping, some hurting.
My point is that yes – of course people should work hard, make good decisions, and be responsible. However, that does not mean that people down on their luck are lazy and should not be helped. And yes - helped by the government in addition to charities and individual neighbors.
Most of our success or failure is beyond our control – call it luck, karma, or God’s plan. I help others because I’m able to provide some assistance at this time. Maybe later I’ll be the one needing help. “We all need somebody to lean on”
Love always,
John
Many Americans think that they are responsible for their own success and that government assistance (“to those people”) is a cause of concern, a waste of money. Some think that if “those people” were smart and worked hard then they would not need help. The theory is that (some/most/those) people who need help are lazy, and the aid from the government will make them even more dependent and lazy. (I would say tell that to Exon but I said no politics.)
I’ve given this a lot of thought and obviously since I have a of history volunteering with the Red Cross, St. Vincent de Paul, Habitat, and Peace Corps you likely already know my answer. We should help others – that is what Christ says, what all the major religions say, and what feels right. The “We” includes individuals, charities, and “the government” – another name for the people in general.
Are a person's decisions and actions the primary factors related to their success or failure? Certainly some decisions have major lifelong implications. Some actions are helpful, some horrible. Our decisions and actions contribute to our success and failure, but there are many factors beyond our control.
My wife and I worked hard and made sacrifices before we met. This continued after we married in mutual support. We made the decisions that we thought were best at the time. We worked very hard. We also volunteered at our church and in the community. We were successful – wealth and family income not in the top 1%, but very high – I’m rather embarrassed to say how high.
So people could say that our success was based on our hard work and good decisions. Those were certainly factors. The question is how big a part? How much because of things beyond our control?
When I look back on my life, on all the things that I did, all the work, all the sacrifices, all the decisions – I generously give myself 10% credit for my success. In my estimation 90% of the reason for my success was beyond my control.
I was born in America – rather than in a country in Africa or other places around the world with fewer opportunities. I was born in the late 1950’s as a white male. I grew to be tall and slender. These factors made it much easier for me to get a job than say a short overweight minority woman.
I was born without many “defects”. I am left handed with dyslexia and maybe other learning issues. I struggled in school but was successful in my undergraduate and graduate studies. I was very successful in software engineering, system engineering, and software research – able to solve problems and design simple elegant solutions better than many other people.
My theory was that half of the problems were easy for right handed people and half were easy for left handed people. Half were easy for people that looked at the world normally and half for those that saw it reversed backward in that dyslexia lens. The majority, right handed normal people, were able to solve many problems (that I might have found difficult) - I got to apply my skills to those that seemed hard to most people.
True or not – my ability to solve problems was in part training and experience and part (a large part I think) something else I was “born” with that made me different from others.
Another example. When I was little I was acting as the Statue of Liberty. I was walking on top of the back of a couch with my torch in my left hand. The torch happened to be a paring knife, but I had a good imagination. Anyway, as expected, I fell and you can still see the scar to the left of the eye. A quarter of an inch, literally, to the right and I would have been blind in one eye. That would have impacted my school and my job opportunities. One little incident before 1st grade could have dramatically changed my life. Perhaps it should have been a pirate’s life for me.
There have been many times when I just missed an accident by arriving at the scene a little early or late. None of that was in my control and a major accident could have had profound impact on my life.
And I should not forget the people behind the scenes - who helped or hurt me – all forces beyond my control. Everyone has people like that - some helping, some hurting.
My point is that yes – of course people should work hard, make good decisions, and be responsible. However, that does not mean that people down on their luck are lazy and should not be helped. And yes - helped by the government in addition to charities and individual neighbors.
Most of our success or failure is beyond our control – call it luck, karma, or God’s plan. I help others because I’m able to provide some assistance at this time. Maybe later I’ll be the one needing help. “We all need somebody to lean on”
Love always,
John
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