Pelicans, raccoons, and bears

Something is wrong with the server that I send WFTD out on and for some strange reason it is either sending out more than one each day, or it is not delivering anything at all to some of those who have subscribed. I don’t know who is the unluckiest. Just that you know I am working on finding a solution.

Here in Hawaii almost all restaurants are open air. The weather is great year round and the views are mostly spectacular and therefore they make you sit outside to eat. I detest eating outside. I like air conditioning and when I eat I want to be free from pests like insects, (flies in particular).

In Hawaii it is birds that harass you. When I am trying to eat, I loathe looking at birds walking around pooping everywhere, (even worse than flies). They fly around from table to table begging for scraps. Signs abound, “Do not feed the birds”, but well meaning people do it anyway and the problem just gets worse.

I saw the same thing in Islamorada around the docks. When we came in on the boats and later cleaned our fish, pelicans would swarm around trying to get scraps of fish as we cleaned the fish and threw the remains in the water. Signs abound do not feed the pelicans, but everyone does. Sooner rather than later an entire generation of pelicans cannot forage for food. They rely on the charter fleet to feed them. The same goes for bears in Yellowstone, or raccoons in the backyard. Don’t feed them and let them find food on their own like God intended. Jeez.

Someone wrote me the other day and said he saw the same guy at Wal-Mart every day holding a sign that states, “Homeless – Need food”. Every time he goes to Wal-Mart this guy is there with his sign. The guy who wrote feels he is just a freeloader that is too lazy to work and wants to know what to tell his teenager kids about it.

Hmmmm. I would tell them that he is a freeloader too lazy to work. The truth works just fine all of the time. The guy is a bum who has found a way to exist without working. I saw an article of two panhandlers in San Francisco that were making six figures working a certain street. It came to light because they got in a fight over territory and the police found out about it and publicized it.

Yep, well meaning people keep these people in business. I had a buddy that told me that when he feels compelled to help someone like that, he simply tells them to come with him and he will buy a meal for them in the hopes that he can sit down with them and share Christ while they eat a good hot meal. No one ever comes with him, preferring cash for other things I suppose.

I used to hitch-hike all over the country and have detailed in my book some of the numerous sob stories that I would tell in an effort to garner funds from those well meaning people who picked me up. Almost one hundred per cent of the time I could talk them out of some cash which I promptly spent on drugs and alcohol..

The friend who wrote me should tell his kids that God intended for us to work. In the Bible He used Himself as an example. God worked six days to create all that we know and don’t know and then rested on the seventh day. Jesus worked as a carpenter. I believe that He did this as an example for working and also as a lesson in humility. Although He is the King of Kings, I believe that He still put in a hard day’s work every day.

These would be excellent examples to tell your youngsters concerning work ethic. (It might go a long way in dispelling the myth that President Obama is instilling in them; the notion that there is a free lunch just waiting for them out there and all they need to do is vote for him and get in line with their hands out just like those hungry pelicans.)

The Bible also sternly tells us to be merciful. Do not throw everyone in the same bucket. The truly needy do exist and it is our responsibility and God’s command that we help them. Just use common sense and if you get burned occasionally, well… So what

Proverbs 3: 27
Do not withhold good from
those to whom it is due,
When it is in the power of your hand
to do so.