12. Write an entry about poverty!

I have always had an interesting view on poverty. Approximatly 20 minutes from my home in Palm Beach Florida, there is a very poor neighborhood that we drive by to attend church. Whenever we drive through this area we always see the same things. Business's closing down, cops arresting people, and just generally negative things. In my opinion the most important crisis is these people's unwillingness to help themselves out. Thankfully I have never had to live in a poor neighborhood or deal with the difficult circumstances that these people do, so I do not fully understand what they go through on a daily basis, but I do feel that our biggest issue is allowing these citizens to milk the government for money their entire lives. Again, I do understand that the government is their to support its citizens and assist them when needed, but I feel that most people that live in poverty take advantage of the system. A perfect example of this is when people collect welfare, food stamps, unemployment, etc, there ENTIRE LIVES. Those programs were created to help people get back on there feet, not to provide them with all the resources they need to survive. When the government continues these hand outs they give these people no incentive to find jobs and better themselves. A question I always pose to people is this, if you were poor and had the option to sit around all day, be unproductive and collect enough money to support yourself on a daily basis would you prefer to do that or go out, work, pay bills, and be productive members of society and earn approximately the same money? Most people say they would rather sit around all day and do nothing. There in-lies the most important crisis that must be fixed. People living near the poverty line have very little incentive to go out and better themselves because they know that the government will support them. This can be solved by limiting these government programs and having time restrictions. I do not think a person should be allowed to live on welfare and food stamps for their entire life. I simply do not agree with that. If people knew that they only were going to be given welfare, etc. for a certain amount of time, it would provide them with the initiative to go out, find work, and be productive, because they would know in the back of their heads that they couldn't just sit there and count on the government forever. I do not see signs of hope in this specific situation, I actually see negative signs, with new goverment welfare programs being developed every year. I am not trying to sound like a harsh person, because I understand that some people are simply less fortunate and need the assistance. But that does not mean that they should be allowed to live off of this assitance their entire lives. The only way to solve this issue is to stop letting citizens use the government as a crutch. People are amazing and capable of tremendous things, but if they are never required to do anything or be productive, then why would they choose to be?