Every nation, every region, every city, every town, every village, every group has two classes of people. My terms are The Haves and The Have Nots. If you are in the Have Not Group, you wake up each day fighting for survival. You long to be in the Have Group. You realize there is no hope when you are helplessly locked into the Have Not Group. However, if you are in the Have Group, life is pretty good, and you do what you can to stay there.

Relating to my past life experience with others, this is how the Haves and Have Nots groups played out.

• As a high-school kid in a Have Group, there were nice family vacations, new clothes for school, birthday parties, an abundance of Christmas gifts, college possibilities, cars to drive, braces for teeth. Yet, as a high-school kid in a Have Not Group, there were no vacations, hand-me-down clothes, unnoticed birthdays, meager Christmas gifts, no college, no car, crooked teeth, lonely at school with little or no respect.
• As a Village Alaskan Have Person, there was money to buy a fishing boat, gear, snow machine, flights to Anchorage, job, dental work, hunting tools, college possibilities, good village life. Yet, as a Village Alaskan Have Not Person, there was no money to fly to the city for medical treatments, no boat, very difficult employment, limited funds for life necessities, a hard life.
• As a U.S. citizen Have Person, there is love for the USA, gratitude to be called an American. Yet, as a U.S. citizen Have Not Person, there is daily survival mode, ungratefulness for the USA. 
• As a Healthy Have Person, life is awesome; having health, you have hope. Yet, as an UnHealthy Have Not Person survival becomes an extreme issue. Life also changes when you become an UnHealthy Have Person. Prestige, power, or money no longer matter.

As I have watched babies being born, I acknowledge every baby starts with the innate fight to be in the Have Group. No newborn signs up to be in the Have Not Group. However, an amazing phenomenon is perhaps when later in life the groups become reversed. 

I am one of those whose parents who’s children lived in the Have Group. Regrettably, my parents did not develop personal life-skill tools. Both parents quit school at age 14, and my mother birthed 8 children in 13 years. Thankfully, the fight to get out of the gutter never left me, and God gifted me with a “fight-to-the-death” attitude. Some babies are born with overwhelming kindness and gentleness; however, without the fight-factor, life thus beats them down to the point they simply accept being a Have Not. 

The challenge to all is to help at least one Have Not Person you know become a Have Person. For meaning, purpose, and goodwill, this will be a true victory in life. Two good Biblical facts to remember: The real Good Shepherd was despised and rejected by men, and God especially cares for the weak of His flock.

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