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                                   Self-Reliance

(Marion G. Romney 1984)

Since the beginning of time man has been counseled to earn his own way, thereby becoming self-reliant.  It is easy to understand the reason the Lord places so much emphasis on thrinciple when we come to understand that it is tied very closely to freedom itself.

On this subject, Elder Albert E. Bowen said, “The……Church is not satisfied with any system which leaves able people permanently dependent, and insists, on the contrary, that the true function and office of giving, is to help people [get] into a position where they can help themselves and thus be free.”

Many programs have been set up by well-meaning individuals to aid those who are in need.  However, many of these programs are designed with the shortsighted objective of “helping people,” as opposed to “helping people help themselves.”  Our efforts must always be directed toward making able-bodied people self-reliant.

Here is a story of the Gullible Gulls:  “In our friendly neighbor city of St. Augustine great flocks of sea gulls are starving amid plenty.  Fishing is still good, but the gulls don’t know how to fish.  For generations they have depended on the shrimp fleet to toss them scraps from the nets.  Now the fleet has moved…..

“The shrimpers had created a Welfare State for the ….sea gulls.  The big birds never bothered to learn how to fish for themselves and they never taught their children to fish. Instead they led their little ones to the shrimp nets.

“Now the sea gulls, the fine free birds that almost symbolize liberty itself, are starving to death because they gave in to the ‘something for nothing’ lure!  They sacrificed their independence for a handout.

“A lot of people are like that, too.  They see nothing wrong in picking delectable scraps from the tax nets of the U.S. Government ‘shrimp fleet’.  But what will happen when the Government runs out of goods?  What about our children generations to come?

“Let’s not be gullible gulls.  We….must preserve our talents of self-sufficiency, our genius for creating things for ourselves, our sense of thrift and our true love of independence.”

The practice of coveting and receiving unearned benefits has now become so fixed in our society that even men of wealth, possessing the means to produce more wealth, are expecting the government to guarantee them a profit.  Elections often turn on what the candidates promise to do for voters from the government funds.  This practice, if universally accepted and implemented in any society, will make slaves of its citizens.

We cannot afford to become wards of the government, even if we have a legal right to do so.  It requires too great a sacrifice of self-respect and political, temporal, and spiritual independence.

In some countries it is extremely difficult to separate earned from unearned benefits.  However, the principle is the same in all countries:  We should strive to become self reliant and not depend on others for our existence.

Governments are not the only guilty parties.  We fear many parents are making “gullible gulls” out of their children with their permissiveness and their doling out of family resources.  In fact, the actions of parents in this area can be more devastating than any government program.

We can’t always control government programs, but can control our homes.  If we will teach these principles and live them, we can do much to counter the negative effects which may exist in government programs in any country.

Man cannot be an agent unto himself if he is not self-reliant.  Herein we see that independence and self-reliance are critical keys to our spiritual growth.  Whenever we get into a situation which threatens our self-reliance, we will find our freedom threatened as well.  If we increase our dependence, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act.