Hard Work a “lost art”

I am proud to say that I am a happily married man going on 30 years now. I have, as many of you already know, five kids. 25, 22, 18, and two 12’s. My wife and I have worked very hard, together, at raising our children, the best we know how. I am also, very proud of all of them.

Okay,

The key word I am getting to is this, Hard Work. My wife and I worked very hard at both our jobs and raising our family. We stressed to our kids, the importance of hard work. To work hard at their school work, at sports they chose to do, or whatever they decided to do, was to work hard at it.

We also made the decision not to give a weekly allowance to our kids as many parents do. We merely tried our best to reward our kids, when we had the extra money to do so, and only if they had been working hard. They all have had certain “chores” to do every day around the house. Be it doing the dishes, running a vacuum cleaner, doing laundry or helping out in the yard. Also, to keep the best grades they can at school. On top of that, we taught them about being respectful and responsible.

So, when the time came around for the latest John Madden football game or getting some new clothes that they wanted, we always tried to accommodate, as long as they had been working hard and we, as a family, had the extra money to spend.

We would often go “out to eat” as reward to one of their favorite restaurants or maybe go to a movie. There would be occasions were perhaps one of the kids would not be allowed to go, due to a decision to be lazy or disrespectful. Fortunately that was not often.

They all have had friends over to the house that clearly has not had similar parenting tactics on them. Not that it is my place to tell others how to raise their kids; I know I have my hands full with my own. But, it seemed there would always be that child that clearly did not understand “respect” as I taught my kids. There were those kids that always had money on them, always had the latest and greatest gadget or toy. They had just got back from an elaborate vacation. They seemed as if they had merely “expected” to get what they have because they just deserved it. Some of their parents may have been divorced and one parent would shell out whatever they wanted so they would not be the “bad guy”.

Okay, not I am getting to the “meat and potatoes” of my hub.

It has dawned on me, how our government has become one of those parents I just talked about, and many of today’s citizens are one of those kids that used to come over to the house.

They have become un-appreciative of the opportunity to work hard. There are now 46 million on food stamps. We have programs set up to “give out” freebies for those who choose not to work hard. I know there are plenty of legitimate folks out there who are truly in need of some assistance. I am not opposed to that either. What I am opposed to is feeding into a whole generation of people who now feel it is government’s role to give to them what they cannot afford. Forget about being respectful, responsible or trying to make it on their own.

I know first-hand of people who lost their job and decided to go as long as possible collecting unemployment checks before they got serious about getting another job. They found that they could collect food stamps and get free health care. Why in the world would they NOT want to take advantage of this? They had been taught at an early age, that working for something was not necessary, because they would still get what they wanted. As long as they had that one parent that was willing to just give it to them.

That has become our government. They have programs set up to cater to every need out there. There are programs out there to pass out free phones, free housing, free education, free vehicles to those who qualify. The problem is, as we all know….NOTHING is free. Everything is paid for by someone. That would be the taxpayer.

Fifty percent of Americans no longer pay federal taxes. That leaves the remaining fifty percent to pay not only for our Constitutional responsibilities but for all of the “free stuff” that the other fifty percent is getting.

It just seems to me that we as a government are just being bad parents. Giving to those who choose not to work hard and expect to be taken care of. Not rewarding those who choose to work hard and be respectful & responsible.

The words of JFK “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” somehow got flip flopped.

Many Americans want to know what their country can do for them and to hell with what they can do for their country.

I want to further say that my two oldest kids are on their own; both are working two jobs and know what hard work is, and what it means. They are outstanding people and I am very proud of them. My other three are in the making, and I am quite certain they too, will be exceptional members of our society.

Some say we are being old fashion, and this is a NEW era of government. To get out of the way, that Conservative values are going away. I am here to say, that values such as hard work, loyalty, respect, honor, virtue courage, and a belief in God are the root to conservative values...and those values are desperately needed in this day and time.

This is a rather long rant, but one I wanted to get off of my chest.