Building a Better World...it Starts Here

In last week's column, I addressed the attitudes of today's youth towards work, and how work is viewed as a whole.
I'm not a fan of Michael Moore's work.  However, I own copies of both "Roger and Me" and "Bowling for Columbine", his two best-known box office documentaries.  That's largely because I'm a native of metro Detroit, and I enjoy seeing movies shot in geographic regions that are familiar to me, even if they are 'turkeys'.
"Bowling for Columbine", though mostly concentrated in the Littleton, Colorado area, did have some aspects of the Motor City in it.  Namely, the attitudes of Canadians towards those less fortunate, apparently in direct contrast to those of Americans.
We as Americans have a tendency to look down on others who appear to be able-bodied people, yet are buying infant supplies with WIC checks, groceries with EBT cards, standing in line at the county assistance office, you name it.
We feel anger, resentment, possibly even hatred.  Why should we work hard to have our tax money 'carry' these people, yet they seem to live no differently than we do?
I hear a lot of this now...especially when it comes to a celebrity or corporate executive earning excesses of a million dollars..."hey, how about spreading a couple thousand of that my way?"
It's only natural to feel that way.  You do the best you can with the means you have, and you don't seem to get ahead.
Welcome to the real world.
It's up to us to build a better society.  That's not done by 'shunning' or cold-cutting off assistance. 
Strong families build strong societies.  Yes, it all starts at home.
If the parents are strong, in character and their bond with one another, the children will be likewise.
Setting a positive example for their children that work is good, and the obligations we have towards society towards those who are genuinely less fortunate than ourselves.
"Wealthy" people in this country give plenty of their earnings to charity.  In my native Detroit, the Ford Foundation has an average annual endowment of $13 billion.  When my mother had open-heart surgery at age 17, what my maternal grandfather's insurance didn't pay for, the Ford Foundation picked up the tab.
There are others.  The Carnegie and Mellon families, who became infamous for horrible working conditions at their steel and coal facilities in western Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th century, have redeemed themselves in giving billions back to Pittsburgh, and were responsible for a great deal of the activity during the two "Renaissance" periods that all but reinvented the city from its smoky industrial roots into a major corporate and cultural center by the end of the century.
The Heinzes, Mellons, and Carnegies gave money.  You don't need that to make a difference.
What you can give is a greater natural resource precious than any dollar.
Your time.  Your vision.  Your future.
And after you're gone, you still live on.
Your legacy.

NEXT WEEK:  What we leave behind