Well said. People, especially city people, have been conditioned to sit back and relax when adversity strikes, and let somebody else do the heavy lifting for them.
I was living in Boston in February 1978 when not one, but two 20+ inch blizzards hit within a three week time span. Naturally snow plows couldn't come around for a while as they were too busy trying to clear the main arteries. But the neighbors on the side streets all got together and have "shoveling" parties. Within a couple of days, most of the side streets were cleared, not by snow plows but by people with shovels.
Occasionally I drive by my old neighborhood (near East Boston) and other than the triple deckers and narrow streets, nothing is the same. I grew up in a close-knit Italian, Catholic community and those people were proud, hard workers who knew how to take care of themselves and not rely on government. Despite the yards being about the size of my living room today, people found a way to grow their own vegetables. They even had tomato plants growing in their windowsills and were likely to have homemade wine and tomato sauce on hand.
The immigrants that live in that neighborhood today, they don't even speak English or care to try. The majority of them collect welfare and use food stamps down at the supermarket. The streets are littered with trash. The yards that once held cultivated gardens are now full of weeds and debris. And I guarantee if I drove down there this morning, half the cars on the street haven't even been cleared of snow yet. People are just sitting there waiting for somebody else to do something.
That is a very sad commentary - it epitomizes what is wrong with our country today.