Teach A Man To Fish And ………

The saying goes, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat today. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat forever”. This same philosophy is being proposed by a New Jersey man when it comes to the hungry receiving donated deer venison by hunters through the Hunters Helping the Hungry program.

HHH receive unwanted deer from hunters. The hunters now have to pay a portion of the cost of butchering the meat. The meat is then distributed to the hungry. Fred Space, co-owner of Space Farms in Wantage, has an idea that isn’t exactly sitting well with some. His idea is to involve the hungry in learning how to properly dress and butcher the deer. Space believes not only will people be learning how to better take care of themselves but they may even learn a trade they could use to support themselves.

But, in the socialist republic of New Jersey, some don’t see this as being fair. To be fair, New Jersey isn’t the only socialist republic in America. It just so happens that’s where this story originated. As we all too often find in our ever growing socialist society, we have no expectations of anyone taking responsibility for themselves. We simply keep handing out the freebies. Leaders of this belief look at all the reasons why something that will resolve a growing problem won’t work and find unending excuses why it isn’t fair for all.

In the New Jersey Herald, Colin McEvoy tells the story of how Space believes his idea would be a benefit to all. In typical fashion, those who never want to address the problem only cover the symptoms, Mike Aversa, one of the founders of HHH had this no so well thought out statement as to why it wouldn’t work.

“If I showed you how to butcher a deer, and you did it once a year, do you think you’d remember how to do it from year to year?” asked Mike Aversa, one of HHH’s founders. “If they do not process this deer properly and get sick from it, who’s responsible?”

Excuse me Mr. Aversa. Thousands, perhaps millions of healthy Americans field dress and butcher their game one a year or less. I hunt every year and have since I was 10 years old. I can say honestly that I don’t field dress and butcher deer every year. There have been times it was several years between successes. It is absolutely ludicrous to think that an individual can’t remember how to field dress a deer.

There are issues with instituting a plan like this because some of the recipients of charity food are mentally and physically handicapped but instead of doing what might be right, we as Americans continue the path of political correctness and fear for our lives that we might offend someone. So we take on the attitude that if they all can’t do, none will do. Let’s continue to keep the masses down.

Personally, I think Space may have the start of a workable program but I doubt that it will ever happen in this America. I strongly believe in taking care of those who can’t take care of themselves as do most Americans. The one and biggest difference in this philosophy is what I consider to be a person not being able to take of themselves completely different than theirs.

Some hunters will not donate their deer to similar programs because they cannot or will not pay the cost of having it butchered. It doesn’t matter whether you or I think the cost isn’t that much, the reality is this happens. Yes, tons of venison is produced through Hunters Helping the Hungry that goes toward feeding many people and many of those people are very much capable of lending a helping hand. It’s called paying your way and contributing to society.

Tom Remington