John Wayne said this. It sounds good but is it really true? Maybe once, when self-reliance meant survival. I don’t see much of that these days. Self-reliance and personal responsibility are virtually extinct. Stupid people who can’t survive on their own don’t disappear, the government helps them, some charity helps them, they seem to remain right here with the rest of us. I run into people who work hard, do what they think is right, try to get ahead and end up continually beaten into the ground by life. At least they are trying. They show endurance and fortitude.

Yet others, those mindless bleating sheep, do little or nothing while waiting for a check from the dwindling number of people who are actually doing the work and paying for it in more ways than one. Get with the right group of sheep and tell them that you hurt your back. See just how fast they can tell you how to collect every kind of disability, which lawyers to get to sue somebody, how to apply for dozens of handouts, how you won’t ever have to work again. You will get to retire – provided you want to be a retired sheep.

Ever meet anyone who won’t accept charity, who wants to earn what they have? If so, consider yourself lucky and stay around that person. The problem is that there are so few of those people anymore. Life is tough, but the stupid just sit down and wait for help, just like they’ve been taught. Perhaps they are not as stupid as they appear? Maybe we, the people who are not sheep, are the stupid ones?

No, I don’t think so. I think we who are self-reliant are the real people who can take care of adversity and live life with strength and courage. Life is tough, so be a wolf. If life does get really tough, it’s the wolves who will survive. Wolves are many things, but they are not stupid. And, who wants to sit around getting old and looking in a mirror to see a sheep reflected back at you?