TEACH HIM TO FISH!

Old Saying

---We can apply this old saying of Lao Tzu to what is now happening in our times and situation. We can substitute many things in the ‘’teach him to fish’’ part. It seems that making folks…’’self-reliant’’ is the call of the day. People without skills seem to be called to the wild.

---In our city…the NEW call seems to be much like the old TV show ‘’M*A*S*H’’ – patch him up quickly and send him back to the front lines. To make a long story short – many seem more equipped with psychological abilities to fight the Korean conflict then seem ready to do battle on the city streets.
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---I’m proposing a plan to address both scenarios, simultaneously, that makes those involved to be ‘’better people’’ on ALL sides of the equation. That would be to teach skills and abilities that increase the person in his realization that he is alright to begin with and he doesn't need someway to escape into being drunk or stoned or anything else for that matter. 
---Through this idea of teaching people skills + abilities that are relevant to our present society and can then open the doors to increased learning on the subject if so desired.  1] Folks would then be more self-aware and know themselves better THEREFORE less likely to wage war in the first place. 2] Folks would be taught to fish (taught skills) that help tame ‘’a Call of the Wild’’ DOWN TO ‘’a Call to Deal With the Present...Successfully.’’
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---I feel that a way to teach people to fish is to work with the decision-making skills. For years decisions were made for the resident (old + new hospital + living environment of both) depleting the resident/patients own decision-making abilities and skills in the meantime. Many folks are at LHH through addictions, excesses and other avoidable whatnot. Had they been taught which are the good berries to eat and which are poisonous berries…they, probably, would NOT have been here to begin with.
---I feel WE cannot strip folk of any decision-making skills that they may have had and send them out ill-prepared and naked…to face MANY or ANY of the newly evolving elements…as we see them today. I think a concerted effort to give the residents/patients some kind of skills and abilities makeover so he'll be better equipped to face what HE may face in the society at large. Any type of recitivism TOO SOON, just defeats the saving of money...that seems to be what we are trying to accomplish in the first place. Two negatives don’t make a positive in the way it is being done at present...in our city. It JUST increases the negatives.