The saying is old but it's true: "When you give a man a fish you feed him for the day. When you teach him to fish, you feed him for life."
Welfare is repeatedly referred to as a "dead-end street," particularly if it's used for anything more than a safety net on a temporary basis. A classic example is a study which proved that refugees from Laos and Cambodia who spent time in refugee camps where all their needs were taken care of quickly became dependent and when admitted to the U.S., 48% of them chose to go on welfare. What's sad is that Laotians and Cambodians are recognized as thrifty, hard-working and ambitious people. Unfortunately, dependency killed their ambition. On the other hand, legal immigrants from Nigeria and India came in without expecting welfare and went to work. As a result, only four percent of them ended up on welfare.
Michael Medved, who wrote Hollywood vs. America, observed that some citizens fear that immigrants may be bad for America. However, a major study at the University of Chicago suggested that the reverse could be true. Researchers surveyed more than 25,000 eighth graders and found that in every ethnic group children with immigrant parents performed significantly better in school than those whose parents were born here. Their grades were superior, they scored higher on standardized tests, and they aspired to college at a greater rate than their third-generation peers. Immigrant mothers and fathers generally "harbor optimism about the advantages of playing by the rules and the benefits that will occur through education." The defining difference is the hopeful attitude of the immigrant parents. Ironically, the longer immigrants live in America, the more likely it is that they will lose this optimism and their chances for success suffer accordingly.
Immigrants come to America with a hope and a dream. Suggestion: Adopt the immigrants' attitude and I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!
Zig Ziglar is known as America’s Motivator. He authored 33 books and produced numerous training programs. He will be remembered as a man who lived out his faith daily