The Easy Way Out

I had intended to talk about another controversial issue today, "Welfare", but I have decided to discuss another issue, maybe the core of the "Welfare" issue itself. I readily admit that I am not a great supporter of our current welfare system. I am employed in an Eastern Kentucky community where abuse of the system is rampant and uncontrolled. I know I am probally at odds with the administrators of the welfare program in the community, but when it is easier for an employee to obtain a welfare check than to continue working, something is wrong with the system.

I can't help but feel that welfare robs the individual. It robs them of their dignity and if they remain in the system, robs them of any desire to break free of the system. It is much easier to continue to make "excuses", look to the government and refuse to make efforts to fix the situation. Welfare becomes the easy way out. I continue to stand by the belief, that the government is for the truly "needy", those that genuinely need the help.

I have always heard, "You are never a failure until you begin to blame someone or something else". The blaming of something external to ourselves allows us to place the responsibility there also. If the majority would begin to accept personal responsibility, they would learn that when they make excuses...they accuse themselves. There may be many reasons for failure, but there isn't one single excuse.
If those caught up in the welfare system ever want to break free, they will have to crucify their excuses and commit themselves to breaking the chains that bind them. So, then the true issue of welfare, I believe is found in the word "desire".

Once an individual becomes dependant on the government, they receive a sense of security, but open themselves up to becoming comfortable and find their desire to change waning. Oh, they may know they will have a meal (food stamps), and may even live in government housing with no worry of shelter. They may even have a "medical card", eliminating any fear of not having health insurance. This life, however, quickly becomes an endless cycle of welfare and the individual loses their need to break free.

Where is the desire in welfare recipeints to develop a vision for their lives, and do what it takes to escape the chains of the system? Why do so many of our people choose to live on welfare, when they are more than capable of working for a living? These able-bodied people could be productive citizens if they would only choose to break the cycle. The key is of course found in "the want to". They, with all their excuses, choose "The Easy Way Out".