A Begging Society

 We have all gone through a trying time that isn't over yet. Everyone has endured a great deal of time and effort trying to get past the various problems associated during the Covid pandemic. Our government which is basically "us" in terms of elections and tax paying, deemed to provide relief in the form of funding to alleviate individuals, businesses and services during the worst of the pandemic shut down. As we emerge from this terrible disease, thanks to those who have done the right thing and taken the vaccines and whatever other practices were necessary, we hope to struggle out of the situation without too much loss. But unfortunately, there are some individuals who enjoyed the free ride and deign to give up looking for re-employment, who are willing to live on the lower standards that their funded lives were offered. At the same time, some kinds of businesses who need this worker are suffering. Now that it has been announced that much of this free money is going to end, there is the usual rant and complaining. It appears that the move isn't all hard hearted, however. What will happen is a filtering out of those who can and should go back to work, and those who are in desperate need for the money to continue. And that's a good thing. A friend of mine said that he found work, no matter what the pay, made his life worth living. It gave him a purpose for getting up each morning and doing something useful, however humble. I liked the sound of that. We are a work effort people.  Our society should watch that it doesn't turn into one that holds out a begging hand first, in hopes of money not earned but handed out. It can become dangerous to become that sort because it dulls one's sense of the basic human need to "work". Most people like their holidays and times off, but when these become an everyday pattern, it kills ambition and the human need and right to expend effort to receive reward. There is something very satisfying about getting that paycheck, and while we all complain it isn't enough because it never can be, we love to look at that figure in the bank account, one that we worked for. If that is taken away, we "flat line". We lose something of our psyche. While it may sound academic, it really isn't. Since the time we are very young, we always feel very pleased when we accomplish a task, do something for ourselves or build something for someone else and are praised for it. During some poorer or primitive societies that saw aides going to places who asked for help, it was found that providing the tools and expertise to equip those with the need was the best solution. People can then build personal and cultural pride in helping themselves and are thus inspired to create their own solutions done their own ways. That seems to be the most successful kind of society to live in. It's a slippery slope but one worth climbing. It's just too  easy begging and whining and blaming and being monetarily rewarded for it. It kills pride and teaches merely a continuance of the very problem itself.