@stellabelle Thinking a lot about this post and the great sentiment and empathy behind it. It reminded me a lot like *parenting*. 

 We want the best for our kids, we would do anything for them, we would make any sacrifice, we don't want life to hurt them, we don't want them to fall and cut their knee, we want all of them to achieve great success etc. 

But you know the old adages. Give a person a fish, they eat for one day. But teach a person how to fish....WOW!   Likewise, you can lead the horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.  

I believe personal empowerment is the answer. You can provide the tools, but you can never make someone use them. Steemit has provided the platform and all the tools already. It continues to provide more. 

Really, I believe the problem is neither the platform, the present tools, the lack of opportunity nor the reward system. It is how do you empower people to claim self responsibility for their own lives. 

Coming back to the children analogy, the great question for every 'parent' to consider is: Do we prepare the road for our children? Or do we prepare our children for the road? 

I'm willing to be way off beam here, to be totally wrong. But I am also an Educator and feel I have a responsibility to share my experience with others.  Learn - Share/Teach - Reward. Repeat.