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Hernando Today

Government Can't Mandate Kindness

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By DOMENICK J. MAGLIO, Neo Traditionalist

Hernando Today

Published: November 13, 2008

Updated: 11/13/2008 05:28 pm

Americans' character is our greatest resource. We are self-reliant people who are willing to help families, our neighbors and ourselves especially during hard times.
Our desire and ability to help is the backbone of community stability or recovery from a disaster. Many people, when given an opportunity to be decent to others, do it in small or more significant ways. These traits of picking ourselves up by our bootstraps and giving a hand to others in need make us an exceptional people.
Neighbor helping neighbor means that a community can help itself through a disaster without government assistance. Individuals in the Midwest spring flood of 2008 did not require a paid position to motivate them to help a neighbor in need. As a fellow human being, you always have a choice to be part of what is good in the world. By assisting a family safely off their roof, sharing food with a person who has not eaten and clearing the debris inside and outside flooded homes are simple though meaningful actions that renew the faith in humanity of those caught in a disaster. These giving acts of helping another helps the giver feel the power of giving. The act of being a Good Samaritan is a blessing to both the giver and the receiver.
Even an army of good government caseworkers could not match the deeds of average citizens. Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that local, state and the federal government, even with billions of dollars to spread around, did not guarantee the rebuilding of a community. The unrealistic expectation that the government will be with our community like the television show "Extreme Makeover," weakens our resolve to roll up our sleeves and help ourselves and our neighbors.
Many people do random acts of kindness. All of us have had strangers spontaneously come to our aid for no other reason than doing what is kind and right. You go to a check-out line and the person ahead of you lets you go ahead of them. An elderly person falls and one or two people rush to his side to help him gain his bearings. A diner in a restaurant gives a check for $14,000 to the waitress who mentions she is having difficulty getting a loan to finish her college degree. Two teenage boys stop and change the tire to help a young woman stranded with a flat tire on an elevated highway. A load of bricks falls off a pickup truck when it turns at a major intersection. In a matter of seconds three cars stop and the people jump out and move the bricks off the road onto the sidewalk. These guardian angels jump back into their vehicles and drive away as quickly as they arrived.
Some people do amazing things, even placing their lives on the line to save others. It was as if they were dropped from heaven. The impetus of acts of heroism is not about money; it is the spontaneous expression of our need to assist others regardless of the risk to our own lives.
A manager of a restaurant donates his kidney to one of his employees. A person sees a car flipped over bursting into flame and rushes in to open the door and pull the occupant to safety. A man fights off two hoodlums attempting to mug an elderly woman with no thought for his own safety.
There is no way government can issue an edict mandating community service for all Americans that would approach the effectiveness of voluntary acts of kindness.
These acts of being "your brother's keeper" or even risking one's life have been recorded throughout human history. The parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37 points out that a person often gets help from someone they least expect. A person as close as a prodigal son to a perfect stranger are often motivated by the goodness of their heart to direct their compassion to another. This urge to help our fellow man is so strong that our state governments have passed "Good Samaritan" laws to protect us from unscrupulous people.
Our nation has prospered by relying, expecting and encouraging people to be responsible for helping themselves and doing their moral duty to assist others who are in need.
We have been known as a people who help our families, our neighbors and ourselves without dependence on government. It is foolish for politicians to convince citizens that government alone will miraculously solve all their hardships. This notion only breeds entitlement and eventual resentment when government cannot deliver. At the same time, it robs the individual's motivation to help him and others if he believes it is the role of the state.
Charity and compassion are our moral responsibilities not the responsibility of the all-encompassing government. Our freedom as a society depends not on the government's bailing us out of our difficulties but on the independent choices to be a Good Samaritan.

Dr. Maglio is the author of "Invasion Within" and "Essential Parenting." He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School. Visit: www.drmaglio.com.

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