Hep Yourself

One time I went to a meeting and the speaker came out and said I'm here to "Hep You."  He had a series of slides that listed all the things that were possible and not one damn thing that was real world.  It was at the beginning of the computer era and I had not one employee and no budget.  Heck, they didn't even have money in the budget to buy us a computer to HEP us do the job they thought we should be doing. Had this guy told us that he was going to give us a vision of what was possible, I would have listened and tried to work towards that vision.

My house in 1983 after a tornado

One of the things I said in what I stood for was "I think our Government should find ways to help those people less fortunate that I am.  With that said, I think people should work hard to find ways to help themselves. "  In Kansas, when there was a disaster, about half of the people would find their own solutions to the problem and never ask the local Government to do anything for them.   Only those that were completely without resources would put their hand out and ask for help.

As the Military Support Officer for the Guard, I went to one of the tornado sites about three days after the tornado to put my mind at rest that everything that needed done was being done.  One of the groups there with their trucks and gloves was the Mennonite's.  They went to a house and asked the owner if they could help him clean up the mess.  The owner was glad to have them and in a few minutes the owner started to tell them what to do and sat down on his porch.  After about 15 minutes the leader of the group came over to the home owner and told him they were leaving.  He asked why and they told him that they were doing what the bible told them to do.  "He helps those that help themselves."  They were there to help, not do the work for the homeowner.    

I guess the moral to this story is that if you can do some of the work for yourself, I think you should.  It will give you a feeling of satisfaction to see a job well done.


MUD