Can we talk?

The Chicken and the Grain

           Recently I read the classic story of the chicken, the dog, and the cat and the grain to my little nephew. As I read the story I couldn't help but picture the dog and cat as members of the welfare state. The chicken was the one doing all the work, yet always open to others joining in at any stage of the process. One of them could have assisted or taken over the sowing, the watering, the harvesting, the threshing, the grinding, or the baking, and still have reaped some of the rewards. But no. They all wanted the end results without doing anything to achieve them.

         I wondered if a lot of folks missed that story as children. Would they listen as adults? So many great truths of life are presented to us before we start school or soon thereafter. Why don't those truths sink in? Maybe the little golden books should be in the waiting rooms of social service offices, hospital lobbies, and bus stations.You don't work at least a little, you don't eat. Not a bad policy.

         I'm all for helping the handicapped, little children, and the elderly and infirm. But I see too many people healthier than me living on welfare, getting free bus passes, food stamps, new shoes, and free phones, and they will tell you they don't want to work. I ride the public bus, and I hear plenty of conversations. I grew up around people who thought it was embarrassing to take anything you didn't earn.

         I also heard these children's stories a lot when I was young. I read and I had people read to me. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for instilling those basic values in me in ways that even children understand.