They Should Do Something Effect

All my life (which hasn’t been very long yet, I’m only sixteen after all) I’ve gotten the sudden urge to slap people when people say “they should do something about that”. Before I go into detail on what I’d like to call the They Should Do Something Effect (TSDSE), I’d like to explain just who “they” are.

The definition of the word “they” - because you know how much I love definitions - is as follows:
those ones —used as third person pronoun serving as the plural of he, she, or it or referring to a group of two or more individuals not all of the same sex (definition 1a on m-w.com)

people 2 —used in a generic sense (definition 2 on m-w.com)

There are other definitions pertaining to the word but they are a bit redundant. The important part is that the word they is a replacement for “people”. And here is the time when I point out that it is people who say that “they” should do something about some problem, people telling people to fix “it”. In essence, we are saying that WE should correct the issue, so why don’t we?

The human race as the individual, as the group, as the society and as the species in general relies in my opinion (because you totally couldn’t tell that this is an opinion piece) too heavily on the head honchos, the people with the power - i.e., government, world leaders, state officials etc. etc. I wonder what those people do when they see a problem that needs to be fixed; do they say that “they” should fix it or do they fix it themselves? Do they rely on those higher up than them to handle their problems, or, as the problem solvers that they’re being paid to be, do they fix their own? And really, now that we’re on to asking questions, what separates us from them in the first place?

I firmly believe that not everyone’s voice is the same and that everyone’s voice isn’t always important, but something we know from the human race is that there is strength in numbers. If we banded together to fix the problems that “they” should fix, then maybe the problems would actually be fixed. I’m not one for going against the government or rulers unless there is a serious problem that they won’t fix on their own, but my suggestion here is that we all take command of our own problems. We try to fix the mess that we created, and then if we can’t fix it, ask for help. But first, ask your neighbor, then if you must, ask those with more power than you. If we operated as a society as I so simply outlined above, then and only then would the people with more power have the ability to focus on those issues that only they can solve.

Let me give you a scenario, because scenarios are fun!

Say you’re a perfectly healthy human being who did relatively well in high school but only went through some college or none at all, and you just lost your job. Then you apply for welfare and foodstamps because, quite frankly, you need to be able to eat and pay your bills. Then, surprise surprise (!) three years have passed, and you’ve been on welfare and foodstamps the entire time. During those three years you expanded your stamp collection, started to draw again, and brought a second cat into your house. Now lets back up just a smidge, you draw? Fantastic! Why haven’t you seen if there are any small illustrator jobs available? Because you didn’t think you could be hired? Nonsense! Why is it nonsense? Because you never even bothered to apply, and herein lies the problem. This is a part of the They Should Do Something Effect. People rely on the government to keep them going until something comes up, but it never does.

I’m not against welfare and foodstamps, but I’m against people being able to run the government dry just because they won’t try to find work.

Have a problem? Want someone to do something about it? Be that someone.

Thoughts?

~Scathach