What Is Self-Development of People?
Most of us like to do things for ourselves rather than having others do things for us. We like to decide how to choose the playthings, friends, clothes, food and activities that make life fun and interesting. We like to solve our own problems rather than have someone else come up with their own ideas for solving our problems.
But many people in this country and around the world are not able to choose for themselves or solve their own problems. They may not have the money to buy the things they need. They may not have clean water to drink, healthy food to eat, comfortable homes or seeds to grow crops. Sometimes the leaders of their countries make rules for them, rather than letting them choose for themselves by voting.
People all over the world want to work hard to make life better for themselves and their children. Often they get together to make plans to solve their own problems. They may want to start a business and grow food in a new way, but they need the money to make their plan work.
That's where Self-Development of People can help. Rather than making plans for other people, Self-Development of People gives them money so they can put their own plans in action.
Which answer would you choose?
1. If you had to move around in a wheelchair, would you rather:
- Push yourself up a ramp and open the door with an automatic door opener or
- Ask someone to carry you and the wheelchair up some steps and through the door?
2. If your parents could not read well enough to help you with your homework, would you rather:
- Study hard at school and then take story books home to enjoy with your parents or
- Give up trying to keep up with your schoolwork?
3. If your parents had to work long hours after you finished school each day, would you rather:
- Go home by yourself, watch TV, and eat junk food or
- Decide to attend the after school program where you could have a delicious snack, get your homework done, and then play games?
4. If you lived in a neighborhood where a lot of trash was lying around, would you:
- Complain and do nothing about the mess or
- Organize your friends in the neighborhood for a clean up campaign?
5. Now choose the one project below that does not have the idea of Self-Development of People:
- A group of people who do not have jobs decide to start their own business so they can work. Soon they are able to hire other people to work, too.
- The local church provides hot soup every weekday at lunchtime for people who are hungry and homeless.
- Many of the people who live in one part of a city want to make their neighborhood a safer place to live, so they work together to make it happen. They form a neighborhood watch group and put up signs showing safe houses where children can go if they are frightened.
Answers:
- Push yourself up a ramp and open the door with an automatic door opener.
- Study hard at school and then take storybooks home to enjoy with your parents.
- Decide to attend the after school program where you could have a delicious snack, get your homework done, and then play games.
- Organize your friends in the neighborhood for a clean up campaign.
- Providing hot soup every weekday at lunchtime is necessary when people are hungry. A self-development idea might be to give money to people who want to make a vacant lot into a garden. Then they can buy the seeds and gardening tools they need to provide vegetables for lunch and for dinner, too. What other Self-Development ideas can you think of?
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