That, and there are those with differing talents.
While that can be a factor, it's not the only one. In today's culture, many people are just plain lazy.
A few weeks ago, my BIL asked me to help him remove & replace a sub floor, toilet and plumbing in a bathroom in his rental condo. We'll, it's supposed to be a rental condo - his stepdaughter and boyfriend live there. They let a toilet leak persist for months before telling him, and it ended up ruining the floor as well as a bunch of drywall in the garage below (and start to grow black mold).
Anyway, I spent an entire Saturday and part of a Sunday doing the work (95% of it I did, as that kind of work isn't my BIL's strong suit - but he wasn't the lazy one). The entire time we were there working, his stepdaughter's boyfriend never once bothered to stick his head around and offer to help or at least watch what we were doing to try to learn something. Total useless lazy arse. And he's always like that. Too busy finger frigging his phone and (likely) getting high. He and the stepdaughter actually went out to dinner on SAT and never even bothered to ask if we wanted them to bring us something back.
He is fully able bodied, half my age (I'm mid 50's) but a total loser. Oh. And did I mention I only have one leg (above knee amputee with a prosthetic leg)?
When I was younger, I was a sponge when it came to wanting to learn how to do or fix things, because I knew I might have to do it for myself some day. I can frame a house, sweat copper, rebuild your car or rec vehicle engine (or anything else on your vehicles), wire or pipe/plumb a house, repair your broken appliance, get your furnace or AC running again, etc.. What do I do for a living? I'm in IT. Spent the first half of my career as a computer programmer (web development and database design), network engineer and systems administrator. Spent the last half as a manager or director, managing or still doing many of the same tasks plus budgeting, strategic planning, etc..
Did all this by teaching myself and doing. I never set foot in a college or trade school until I was nearly 40. Now I have two college degrees, although I spent the majority of my time in school teaching and helping other students, not learning.
Bottom line, if you want to learn how to do something, 90% of humans CAN learn if they just try. It's far more about drive and ambition than it is about natural abilities or talent.
Sure, writing a check is the easy way out of most situations. Sometimes it makes sense because you need specialized or expensive tools. But there will be many times when that checkbook is of little use, and the knowledge and ability to do something yourself (or help a friend) is priceless.
