Giving Up...

 

 

"There is a huge difference between a hand up and a hand out"

A little over four years ago, we lost my wife's mother. She was a ten year survivor of small cell lung cancer. Making it for ten years with that disease was almost unheard of. She was a fighter that inspired us all. However, towards the end, she developed a rash of complicating health issues. Her path was usually home to the hospital, then to rehab, maybe back to hospital and then possibly to home. One day when she was in rehab, she was informed she had yet another infection and they needed to put her back in the hospital. She gathered the family and said, "Enough - I am throwing in the towel". Her body, her spirit could take no more. Less than a week later, she left us.

Not one person who knew what my Mother-in-Law went through with her health problems blamed her. Many would have given up long before she did. However, the kind of giving up I don't understand is what I have seen more and more as of late. It is the number of American people giving up on our country.

Last weekend when I was fishing with a good friend, he told me he had a bleak outlook for our future. This is the first time he had ever sounded so negative. He told me we have lost the country - there is little chance we can get it back. When I asked him to explain, he simply said this - "We have way too many takers, and not enough producers (makers). The country cannot survive that way".

I think he had a point. Last week on the news, I heard about the number of states where a person can make more money milking the system than working for a low wage. How bad was the story? First off, almost half the states (including Minnesota) fell into that category. However, the grand daddy of them all was Hawaii. Milking the system the right way could land you government benefits equal to a $60K/year job. Who is the heck would want to work given that option?

Many of us are familiar with the Lady Thatcher quote - "Socialism works fine until you run out of someone else's money." With the trajectory we are on, we will soon run out of "someone else's money". Borrowing and printing will just make things worse. Our nation became great because of people that produced. It became great because of people who had a dream and would take a chance. It became great because we as a people, believed in equal opportunity, NOT equal outcomes.

I have said this before, and I will say it again. My generation made this mess. It was not my parents generation - they set a nice table for us. Since my generation screwed this up (starting in the 60's), it is up to us to fix it for our kids and grandkids. WE CAN'T JUST GIVE UP! Demand more and better from our elected representatives! Reject the status quo which got us here! Demand TRUE change which will allow our next generation to experience TRUE hope!

No more smoke and mirrors. No more campaign talk. No more voting "present". No more passing the buck or blaming the past. FIX THE DAMN THING! We do all of us, deserve so, so much better. It is way too early for the golden goose to die...