You can’t help people

 You can’t help people.

What? You might say.

Hear me out.

You can only help people if they accept the help. The exception would be if they are unconscious or without conscious choice due to a physical accident or similar situation.

You can only help people if they take the help and make steps on their one to use the help.

Now, they might take the help at first, and keep taking it, and keep taking it, and not make any efforts on their own to improve their situation. In which case you are not helping them; you are only rescuing them over and over and over.

I know this sounds terribly cold. This is from a person who has paid other people’s rent and given out lots of money to those who needed it, and seen them choose to keep their lifestyles. I donated the money because it was needed immediately, and I don’t begrudge that. But when the person stays in the situation by choice so that they are in a years-long need of help, something is wrong. 

There are some important books on this subject from a nongovernmental aid perspective, especially in regard to Africa. The West has poured a lot of money in Africa and seen a lot of it wasted because it was “given” in the wrong way, not in a way to improve lives. Usually, it was given to corrupt governments.

All my life I’ve been made to feel guilty for not helping people enough, not evangelizing enough, not everything enough. For not having good enough student retention. For not giving enough money to causes. It gets tiresome, and leads to cynicism. 

Lest I be misunderstood, the Bible is clear that we meet immediate needs of the truly in need. We have no choice in that matter. But we must be wise, canny, and have a long view of it. 

I had heard of this before, but I saw a panhandler the other day at the corner of US 41 and Shugart. He was sitting in front of a RaceTrac gas station with a sign: Need money for beer and weed. At least he's honest.