There’s a saying that goes “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

I think I have a corollary to that: Give a man enough fish, and you make him dependant on you for fish.

John Stossel did a segment on 20/20 (not sure when) titled “Freeloaders”. The gist of it is that we’re keeping a segment of society from taking responsibility for themselves by continuing to make it easy for them to avoid that responsibility. How? Homeless shelters and church groups who just give handouts without requiring anything in return, like work, are a couple of examples. Motorists giving money to those folks on the street with “will work for food” signs is another.

I’m as compassionate as the next person. I’m also an easy mark. It’s hard to look someone in the eye who’s out on the street, obviously homeless and hungry, and not give them a buck or two. I’ve done it more times than I can know, all the while knowing in the back of my mind that they’d probably use the money for booze.

The point is, there needs to be a way for truly needy people to get the help they need. But they also need to be made to take responsibility for their situation.

Here’s Stossell’s report.