Adversity and the Role of Government

I have long believed what determines a person’s character is how they deal with adversity. Every person faces many adverse situations during their lives. The first step in dealing with adversity is acceptance or accountability. Unfortunately, most people live in denial and avoidance when facing adverse situations. Developing a strong character usually stems from good family values. However, in the face of technology, single parent families, daycare, and other factors, family values are not being reinforced. Hence, present day personal character is narcissistic and centered around irresponsible traits such as finding blame and fault and our President is the biggest proponent of using these unethical tactics. There are three types of adverse situations: those which our beyond our control; those that are self-inflicted; and those that are needlessly created.

An example of an adverse situation out of our control is people affected by Hurricane Sandy. A personal example is that I was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder. Once I accepted the fact that life was going to be different I was able to move forward by adjusting my goals. This sounds simple, but it is not. The easiest way for me to find acceptance was to realize as bad as my situation may be, there are many more people who have worst disorders or face more adverse situations. I could feel sorry for myself and use this disorder as crutch to go on social security disability. This is not acceptable behavior, but it is a behavior our government endorses. However, I only think the government should intervene to help people who face adverse situations that are out of their control – such as Hurricane Sandy victims.

Unfortunately, when something bad happens, many people may feel sorry for themselves, go into denial and expect others to resolve their situation. A good example of a self-inflicted adverse situation is when a teenager gets pregnant. Once again the government feels compelled to intervene and reward the pregnant teenager with welfare or assistance to get an abortion. What does this teach the teenager? It teaches them nothing because they are bailed out from dealing with the adverse situation. Pre-retirement entitlements do not hold people accountable for facing adverse situations, especially self-inflicted ones. Should we reward people who cannot find work but dropped out of high school? This is a self-inflicted condition. By rewarding this behavior, we are promoting a weak character where it is acceptable to hold other people accountable to bail out someone else’s ignorance or incompetence. If there are not consequences for teenage pregnancy, dropping out of school, or any other self-inflicted action, then how will this self-destructive behavior get corrected in the future? It won’t!

All of this talk about the war on women and the war on minorities in our country just makes me sick. These are examples of needlessly created adverse situations. We live in the greatest country in the world and instead of accepting the fact that most of us are fortunate (even people that are less fortunate have the freedom to change that situation in the U.S.), we create adverse situations. We create unnecessary division and polarity. Would blacks prefer to live in Africa, would women or gays prefer to live in a Muslim dominated society, or would Hispanics prefer to live in Mexico or Latin America? Most of these areas are depressed; these regions are filled with bigotry; and most of these regions are not democracies and therefore civil liberties or due process laws are nonexistent. In America, if all things all equal, women and minorities would receive a job or get accepted into an educational institution over a white male. That is not a bad deal and it does not exist anywhere else in the world except in democracies. It is a travesty that we really think there is a war on women because health insurance does not cover contraception, Planned Parenthood is no longer funded, or abortion is not taxpayer funded. Since when is the onus of being responsible and accountable lie with our neighbors and the government. Equality does not mean rewarding for irresponsible behavior. If women can find this unrealistic fantasyland then they should live there.

I’ve accepted the fact that Americans want to have it all, but they do not want to earn it. They want it given to them – healthcare, education, housing, food, unemployment, disability, contraception, and abortion privileges at someone else’s expense. In America, there are now more takers than givers and eventually the system will break and the bill will have to be paid. This will be a rude awaking and we will finally see how people deal with adversity when their entitlements are cut. At this point, people will be outraged and probably protest instead of realizing how unrealistic the role of government was in dealing with adverse situations. Republicans are mad with Mitt Romney for saying the truth – that Americans want “free” stuff and as long as Democrats keep delivering freebies to people who create self-inflicted or made up adverse situations then they will continue to beat Republicans.