Holiday compassion not always deserved

This time next week, Christmas will be behind us. The gifts will be opened, the food consumed and Santa will be back at the North Pole preparing for next year. But the reality is that those who asked for help this Christmas will likely find themselves in the same position next year. I've come to the sad conclusion that there is little we can do to change that.

As most readers know, this newspaper for 30 years conducted an annual holiday food and toy campaign. It started with a humble beginning and grew steadily through the years. But a couple of years ago we began to face the reality that the very same people were knocking on our doors year after year. That chronic need was not diminished with our campaign nor will it be diminished with other campaigns. So we began to very selectively adopt families and provide them with some holiday cheer. But those in chronic need began to complain. And we began to realize that we had become part of the problem and not the solution.

Our message to readers was then to try and adopt a family on your own. Find someone truly in need and seek ways to assist them during the holidays. That call for help was answered by countless families and groups.

Everyone of us is more than willing to help someone who helps themselves. But those who make no effort to provide for their families are another story. The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back came when a needy young woman approached us for some holiday assistance but first she had to scratch off the 20 lottery tickets in her car. She was unwilling apparently to make a small sacrifice of forgoing her lottery tickets for the needs of her children. Who among us wants to make a sacrifice for that type of person when they are unwilling to make a sacrifice on their own?

Times are indeed tough for some because of their circumstances - health issues, job loss, family crisis. But times are tough for others because they choose not to seek any improvement in their lives or the lives of their family. Few among us are willing to make a special effort for these people. That is simply reality.

In some situations, people are often their own worst enemy. They are quick to blame others but, in the end, it's a total lack of effort on their part that placed them in an uncomfortable position. We can be sad about their conditions but we have little sympathy.

Life is often about values. What value do you place on hard work, on education and on sacrifice? If you are unwilling - not unable - to recognize those values then life will continue to be tough on virtually every front.