A person I know on Facebook shared this link .
I read the story and some others at the same page and had a rather strong reaction, not one I was necessarily proud of, but strong.
Now I am asking if you would read it and share your thoughts. What was your reaction?
Just curious.......
I'm torn between thoughts of "Get a job!" and compassion.
ReplyDeleteMainly, I'm resentful of gov't interference in social issues that should be handled by private charities and the marketplace.
If I need to 'splain that, I'm in the wrong place. :)
The house with the heat shut off was too cold and damaged her heart? Really? And now she's on disability. Ok.
ReplyDeleteBut she still smokes. Five dads for six children. Apparently we're supposed to feel bad and pay for her bad choices.
I've made bad choices. I've got heart problems. I'm not, however, living off taxpayers. Sheesh.
Is she truly so incapacitated that she cannot work a la the old WPA back in the Depression? Can't she get on a bus and go to a work site and pick up trash, clean sidewalks, clean graffiti, and other minor public work that needs to be done?
I'm willing to help someone when they are down. To help them get back up. Not to live off my help for the next three or more generations.
Just because they've been born into a bad situation and have made bad choices is no reason for them to have a direct line to my wallet. Just sayin.'
I SO AGREE WITH Rev. Paul and Jeffro...SO AGREE!!!
ReplyDeleteLinda
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My reaction: too many kids.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad nobody's writing a column about the details of my life, though. I'm quite sure that there would be many people who would have plenty to say about my choices.
Well, my first response was anger at this woman for all the bad choices she has made. But then my anger was redirected toward the author of the article, who chose to focus on this unwise person, rather than all the many, many deserving poor who also depend on public assistance. I met many of these deserving poor in my work as a Hospice nursing assistant, folks who through no fault of their own faced devastating situations due to disease and disability. And then they have to endure the censure of luckier folks, including some really abusive employees of social services. Until I had the opportunity to walk with these people, I had little idea of what they were really up against. Articles like this one are just throwing red meat to the wolves who want to cut government assistance, even to those whose lives depend on it.
ReplyDeleteI read it this morning on WashingtonPost.com. I am angry with the author of this article, who fans the flames of entitlement while seeking outrage for this person's plight. I agree with Jeffro 100%. I am a medical professional in the Medicaid system in my state- life is about choices and many generations of folks keep making the same crappy choices over & over & expect those of us who work and sacrifice to pay their way . . . elected bureaucraps count on these folks to continue to vote them into office. Term limits, I say. No one should be able to be a career politician on my dime-just saying . . .
ReplyDeleteI wonder if all those bad choices felt like "choices" when Raphael made them. It might have felt, to her, as if she had no choice.
ReplyDeleteSure, we can sit here and say she could have gotten birth control and used it . . . she could have stuck it out at that job in hope of something more lucrative . . . but maybe when you've grown up in a community of people who have no expectation of success and no hope . . . you just go with whatever comes, and hope, vaguely, that something good will happen.
Yes, conflicting thoughts and emotions. As a white, come up from poor to middle class by doing lots of part time jobs and staying in school until I got a well paying job I don't have too much sympathy for a down and out person that thinks being cold will damage the heart. On the other hand, I wonder if I had been born black and female in a society that still puts one down for one's skin colour before ever looking beyond the colour how intelligent or rational my choices would have been. I also wonder if I had been born a white male in Germany in the 20's what my decisions would have been under Hitler. I guess there are things we will never know, can't know, because of the circumstances of our birth and time and colour. Just because I can't know does not stop me from wondering about many things as I move on towards the end of my time. I am sure I would have reacted to this story in a different way 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago, 50 years ago, . . .
ReplyDelete