By the sweat of … someone else's brow? ~ By Patrice Lewis

From WorldNetDaily

By Patrice Lewis Posted: November 14, 2009 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 In the most recent issue of my favorite magazine (dedicated to independence, self-sufficiency and rural living), I was stunned to come across the following letter: "My husband and I want to purchase some land to start an organic vegetable and fruit farm, and maybe raise chickens and sheep. We have found several good prospects. The problem is money. I've tried going on the computer to find grants for starting to make my dream a reality. But everyone wants money just to give me books and list how to get a grant. How do you do it? Our home is not worth much (we are living in a fifth-wheel travel trailer in an RV park). Any advice on what to do would be very helpful. I have been reading books on organic farming, and I think we could make a real living at it." I nearly blew a gasket. Grants? For making your dream a reality? Since when do people get grants for that? Wow, sign me up. For clarity, a grant is "something granted, as a privilege or right, a sum of money or a tract of land." In other words, a grant is free money. You don't have to pay it back. It's yours to do with as you wish (or as the grantor determines). Which leads to the question of why anyone ELSE should pay YOU for a chance to "make a real living"? You clearly have no experience in your "dream" beyond reading a few books. As an investment, you'd be a lousy risk. How about if you buckle down and work your butt off and figure it out for yourself? Because I can tell you from experience, farming (especially for profit) isn't all it's cracked up to be. Worth it, yes; but only if you're willing to experience a lot of failure. You face trials from weather, pests, fencing, disease, predators and a chronic lack of money. We've been at this for 16 years, and we're still failing at some things. It's a never-ending battle that has given us a deep appreciation for what our pioneer forefathers faced. This person wants grants to achieve instant success. She wants to take the easy way instead of the hard way. She wants someone else to subsidize the risk with no guarantee of return for anyone but herself. See, I look at this letter as an indicator of the way things have become in our society. Many people no longer think it's honorable and worthy to work hard and achieve things on their own merit, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. Instead they look to others to provide things for them, to make it easy, to give them a cushion, to not allow them to fail. [CLICK HERE TO READ MORE]