POLITICS: States that give, states that get

A healthy society has room for everyone. Not being particularly neighborly isn't a problem unless a majority of people are that way; then things fray apart, like now. When it's just a handful of people, they can be accommodated -- ideally, in jobs/locations that require solitude. A general safety net should be in place to catch people who don't have a personalized net or are between nets.

Being embarrassed to ask for help, or receive help, is a different issue. If it's embarrassment, sometimes that can be overcome by learning new skills. Innate introversion is less susceptible to change; so is plain discomfort at needing or receiving help. Sometimes you just have to make the help available, and if people choose not to use it, that's their decision. They might be less miserable without it. But when the help is the right kind, most people will take it when they need it.

A big problem with the current system is that much of what's offered is the humiliating and debilitating kind of charity where the recipient doesn't give anything back. Ideally, one should be able to get needed assistance -- such as a box of food, or daycare so one can get a job -- and then look at a list of things that need doing, and do one of them. It gets more things done, it reduces the tendency to feel humiliated for taking a handout, and it helps people feel productive rather than helpless. Very few people indeed are so demolished that they can't do anything of use.