GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES

Guest Post by Hardscrabble Farmer

I came in from mowing hay at 9:30 last night- just enough light left in the sky that I wouldn’t run anything over. My wife had a bowl of greens sitting on the kitchen island for me and I was so hungry I ate standing up, literally shoveling the food into my mouth. That ended the work part of a 17 hour day.

My oldest son and I spoke on the phone about his day- he is currently working his way around America- this past month he has been doing butchery with a Mennonite family that processes beef and pork commercially. He told me that the work day is 10 hours, the owner reminds him of me because there are no breaks, twenty minutes for lunch, but a steady and continuous pace interspersed with lively conversation about a wide variety of topics and a good sense of humor.

He was offered- and took- extra work off the books cleaning out an industrial freezer on Sunday and has been offered other side jobs as well because he has a good work ethic. He sounded happy, I know he is proud of himself for the respect these people give him and while most of his contemporaries are slowly building up a mountain of debt for four years before they even hit the job market, he is learning new skill sets while being paid for it AND he gets to see his country first hand with only himself to take care of and look after. I don’t think it would ever occur to him to beg for something no matter how much he was in need.

I took an hour yesterday to take a litter of puppies and a crate of young chicks to the local library where they had a class for kids off from school- 20 seven and eight year olds- I had them sit in a circle and talked about what we do on the farm and hold the puppies and the chicks and then I showed them what happens when the chicks were let free and the puppies promptly rounded them up and brought them back into the circle. I explained that it wasn’t something I had to train them to do, that it was their nature to herd other animals, to work and it was clear that they enjoyed it. The children thanked me and I said my goodbyes and went back to my own work at the farm.

My clothes are worn out, my hands are rough and often dirty, there are all kinds of things I’d like to do, but cannot afford to, so I either read about them or dream about them because I would much rather be here, working for my family and improving this land. It is a choice I have made and live with the consequences and the benefits of those choices; seeing my children grow up, watching them head out into the world confident in themselves, being able to work alongside my wife and grow old together with her by my side, eat well and gratefully, sleep deeply with pleasant dreams and when we have a little extra treat ourselves to some good coffee beans or take the kids to the movies.

In fact we went for my youngest son’s 9th birthday last month- dinner and a film in the capitol- and when we stopped for gas there were three twenty somethings camped out on the grass next to the gas station holding signs that read “NEED GAS MONEY”. They had several dogs, a pickup with a camper shell, they were well dressed, albeit hippy-ish with dreads and face piercings and the big ear spool things, tattoos, etc. They appeared well fed and healthy and for a second I wanted to ask them why they hadn’t chosen to work for money instead of beg, but I didn’t want to spoil our own fun and frankly, it isn’t any of my business what other people do with their lives, but I certainly would not give them money just because they were asking for it.

The homeless came from families that had similar responsibilities for raising their children and the choices those families made determined the course of those lives. Once adults they were free to choose where they went and what they did and live with the consequences of those choices. Unlike the man in the parable of the Good Samaritan, these weren’t beaten and robbed and naked in a ditch on the side of the road, they are cared for by an extremely generous public welfare system entirely subsidized by the funds extracted from people who do work and who do create and maintain the society in which they live. Those people have their own needs and wants but instead of asking others to provide it for them, they get up every day and go out and get it for themselves or the ones they love.

Sympathy, empathy, consideration, generosity and altruism are valuable traits in human behavior and are hardwired in us like the herding instinct in a Border Collie puppy. There is a purpose and a value in them that helps to create bonds with others, to foster relationships between generations and neighbors. It is a give and take, an ebb and flow in communities and within families that helps make our institutions and societies stronger. In an atomized world or under certain circumstances it can be corrupted and turned into something else that rather than build, can tear apart- like a puppy left alone and bored will destroy a piece of furniture to satisfy it’s frustration at not being able to use it’s inborn traits as nature intends.

The more that you encourage a behavior, the more of that behavior you will see- as Gayle has pointed out- good or bad. I want to make the world better every day through my efforts and so I personally would not do anything to encourage someone’s indolence or sloth or allow them to think that everyone supports their failure or addiction. In the older world that once existed it was the family that was responsible for these people, if they had no family it was the community and if that wasn’t there for them there was a reason and that person would either change their behavior or eventually die.

Reading this I am sure that I seem hard-hearted, but that isn’t the case. Giving money to a beggar is like kicking someone who has a ‘kick me’ tag on the back of their shirt. Neither is really aware of what they are asking nor does it change their situation except for a moment- long term it exacerbates the problem and makes it become part of their nature and character. That is an injustice and harm.

I believe that we are about to enter an era where needs and want far exceeds resources and it is a problem that we have deliberately created in both our personal behaviors and our societal reactions to these demands.

God helps those who help themselves.