The most confusing part of life

The conflict between having a desire to help those with nothing and facing the reality that, for some, their misery is self-inflicted. You help because you do not want the children to suffer for their parent's poor decisions but then you worry your "help" enables the cycle of poor decisions and learned helplessness to fester.



I will give you a perfect example: a family comes for assistance. You are glad to give it because you have it to give and you know that it will help. But then you have to scratch your head handing over the help to a parent talking on their smart phone. Really?! That phone easily costs $200 to buy and $100 a month to maintain. Where is the priority? If they had chosen a non-data cell phone with a lower plan, they could very easily have taken care of the issue they came seeking assistance with in the first place. I don't get it?!



It's a hard question because, without a doubt, those children wouldn't have what they need if it weren't for the assurance of some kind of help from others. Or would they? If parents knew that they were truly responsible for making sure children had needs taken care of, would their priorities change?



This is the part of life that confuses me the most.