Helping the Poor Help Themselves

The old saying, "Give a man a fish, and feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and feed him a lifetime." applies equally to children and the poor. Instead of giving them unconditional handouts, it is important for their development to build self-confidence by catching the fish themselves, instead of being fed it. Welfare cheques and allowrances are good up to a point, like first aid from the Good Samaritan for the robbery victim, but more important than the material blessing, is the spiritual blessing of earning a living.

Almost all of the most effective international aid programmes in undeveloped nations are the ones that help the people help themselves. Instead of pouring unaccountable billions into an economy clouded by corruption and inefficiencies, the best practice is to permeate the local economy with experts who do not do the work, but mentor, and advise the motivated energized people themselves.

Similarly, to help the poor, the three steps of first aid (immediate concerns like food and medical needs), security (housing and minimal steady source of income), and long term health and fitness (confidence, abilities, education, etc) are essential and must be approached one step at a time, according to the need of the individual.

In the extreme cases, which are most of the ones when we consider the bottom ten percent of society, the first step must be a resolution of addiction, malnutrition, and other medical problems. Without doubt, the necessary care exceeds the capability of almost any single private citizen, except perhaps the very rich, i.e. the top 5%. However, it is more strategic for government agencies to provide first aid, because they can be more intimately engaged with the people who needs help. Instead, the rich should provide funding and supervision of the third step, when these people have found security, and ready and able, most importantly, motivated to stand up for themselves.

In other words, the responsibilities of government agencies should be to help the poor to recover from catastrophic and traumatic events that caused their poverty, while at the same time, help motivate them with hope and opportunities. The responsibility of the rich is to provide the opportunities, to ensure that even the very poor has the same opportunities that the rich themselves enjoyed.

The key to utopia is the coordination of government programmes with private charitable efforts to achieve the same goal of building up each individual's sense of responsibility and service to society. When both the rich and the poor feel and do the same, when the lion and the lamb lie down together, then peace and prosperity will be on earth as well as in heaven.