Do not give me fish—for if you do, I must refuse.  It is not that I would be ungrateful; rather, I know that by accepting the fish it would give the impression that I would want more.  I know that is your intention.  I know that it would bring you such joy that you cannot publicly or rightfully express.  I know that you would be my master and I, your servant.  I know, without doubt, that is your goal for me and for the masses who find themselves before you.  For only then, can you control me.

Like the others before me, and those who may follow, I have encountered dire circumstances that render me, momentarily, in need in of assistance.  My pride, necessarily, suspended as I think only of my young child.  My child, without food and, nearly, without shelter has brought me crawling to your door.  I plea for you to take my hand and help me rise beyond my circumstance.  Allow me, please, a handful of the grain that I worked so hard to contribute for this purpose.  I vow to take no more, just enough to stem my child’s hunger while I learn to fish.

This simple story demonstrates the struggle between social entitlements and social services.  What those who promote socialism and the expansion of government services do not see, or refuse to acknowledge, is that the services provided encourage dependency through the promised entitlements.  By contrast, those who promote individual accountability strive to provide social services that support self-sufficiency.  It can be enticing to let the government provide for us that which we might better provide for ourselves.  My challenge to you is to give real thought to what we give up from both an individual and a societal perspective.  I need look no further than to my mother’s story to answer my challenge.

My mother, following the divorce between her and my father, often had to work two jobs to support her three children on her own.  Many times food was in short supply, but she always found a way to provide for us.  What about “child support,” you might ask.  Child support means nothing when the father does not pay.  Child support means nothing when your children suffer.  Still, she found a way.  Our church provided the opportunity for her to work a few hours in exchange for boxes of food when the need was the greatest.  The church could have “given” her food without the expectation that she should work for it.  To do so would have been the same as telling her that she was incapable of providing for her children.

My mother did not ask to be placed in the role of single parent.  She had never considered that as even a possibility.  It becomes clear to see that she was ill-prepared for the role.  Still, my mother had a fierceness that would not allow defeat.  She would swallow her pride to take care of her children.  She would ensure that we were fed.  She would ensure that we had a roof over our heads.  The church did her a great service by NOT giving her food.  The church did ME a great service by not giving her food.  What the church did give her was so much more valuable.  The church gave her dignity, hope, and confidence that she would prevail.  The church allowed her the opportunity to provide for her children when her income fell short.  The church taught her to fish.

My mother went on to have a career in the government welfare sector.  She worked in general public assistance, food stamps, and child support—each provided a service of which she had once benefitted.  She understood the need for such social services.  She also came to understand that there were those who abused those services.  Regardless of the circumstances that led them to seek services, there were two types of clients: those who wanted fish and those who wanted to learn to fish.  Because of my mother and the example she set for me, I was determined to learn to fish when I, too, was faced with a situation for which I was ill-prepared. 

Today, I see a country faced with two ideologies: one that wants to give the people fish and the other that wants to teach them to fish.  For America to remain strong, we need to fish.  We need to stand strong and say, “Do not give me fish—for if you do, I must refuse.”