The world decided that I would be adopted into a loving and financially robust home. A home that provided me with options, an education, love, and stability. It would be unlikely that I would become someone that suffered financially, but I have. Every month was met with an eviction notice and the awareness that I did not have enough groceries to eat and my food was spoiling. So what did I do, I ignored it...I pretended it didn't exist and I went on about my life in a way that was totally inappropriate for my level of income. At what point do you completely give up on the comforts of being alive, of enjoying something that allows you just a small opportunity to forget the position that you are currently in? Is every bad decision a bad decision or just a moment of escape and why should escape from life only be afforded to those who are rich? Shouldn't we all be allowed to afford some kind of comfort in this world?
Do those that live homeless, hungry, and unemployed really chose how they are living now and do they continue to chose this path? As an advocate for the homeless I hear a lot about how homeless people live and most of the time, its not by those who are homeless. It's from people who have never been homeless. Have they experienced hunger and poverty, maybe? But have they ever lived on the streets, or in a car? Not likely. Have they ever experienced the crippling dehumanization of being a felon, having a mental illness that keeps them unfit from working? Not that they usually tell me. This trend of being told what homelessness and poverty is and what it is like to be on welfare is ridiculous and outrageous.
These are some of the most recent welfare memes (I'm not naming names, but it's unlikely we are still friends on Facebook or real life) that I have seen. I'm not crazy political correct, but there are a few things that I don't joke about. That is probably a lie, I pretty much joke about everything except rape jokes. They are never appropriate and I'm not being facetious. They really are NEVER appropriate. I am prone to making fat jokes (I'm a certified fatty), race jokes (I'm a Mexican, so it's ok) and basically just demeaning and inappropriate commentary on everything, but I digress...here are some of the culprits:
HAHAHAHAHA!! This is funny because people on welfare don't work at all, amirite?? HIGH FIVE GUYS! EXCEPT THAT 88% of your tax dollars goes to government operations and defense, which means that 12% goes to mandatory welfare programs (http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/08/federal-spending-by-the-numbers-2013).
Says 9% of the American population who uses illicit drugs! How about instead of being angry that the government is asking to take away MORE of your hard earned dollars that you can't earn while being high on drugs so that poor people can be drug tested, you take this up with your legislature since drug testing employees is an enormous breach of privacy and not to mention, also violates at least two amendments to the constitution! (I SAID THAT ALL AS ONE SENTENCE BECAUSE THIS ARGUMENT IS STUPID.) Moving on.
I will not lie about the fact that yes, I have seen people who are homeless, who own iPhones, smartphones aplenty, and cool electronics. But lets break it down for a second, shall we? There does not exist in this world a "welfare check". It is adorable that you think that there is, but there isn't. Mind blown, right? If you are impoverished and receive benefits this is how it works. SNAP benefits for food are on a card that can ONLY be used to purchase qualified items. If you receive benefits for health, you do not get a magical welfare check that is written out for so much money that you can cash. You get MA or some other kind of medical assistance that the state pays for and the recipient gets a medical card. If an individual qualifies for TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) they do get cash assistance in the form of a card and it is generally between $300-400 dollars a month. SSI is less than $700 a month and most people then qualify for other assistance that does not allow them the mythical welfare check that you people so often speak of.
What is with you guys and poor people and iPhones? As I stated earlier, have I seen it, yes...but mostly they have pretty inexpensive prepaid phones because their credit is not high enough to get them a plan through a large carrier like AT&T or Verizon. Several women that I have worked with in the shelter have lovely nails and guess what? They do their nails themselves or buy cheap press on ones from the dollar store. Much like most women, despite the fact that they are impoverished and living in a homeless shelter, they take pride in their appearance. How fucking dare they?
Lots of lots of people have tattoos, maybe they have a friend, maybe at one point they weren't so poor and could afford the luxury of the worlds like iPhones, tattoos, and nail art. But let's talk about you, how do you pay? Cash, money from your parents, credit cards? If you charge that shit or get it from your parents; kettle, meet pot.
Did you know that eugenics is a bad thing? Also, once again, the magical welfare check DOES NOT EXIST. Let's explore this wonderful world of social commentary on poverty and parenthood! Should poor people be allowed to have children; obviously not, DUH! W.I.C. is a program that could be defined as a welfare program and would fall under "welfare check" status. So mothers, fathers, and legal guardians who utilize this program should probably just sell their children and move back into the gutter right? Individuals who use W.I.C. are not bad parents and being low-income does not make a person a bad parent either. There are plenty of people who use this program and it is a wonderful way to be able to offset the insane cost of raising a child. In fact, it might be more responsible for people who qualify for it to use it than not.
Beyond this, lets talk about reproductive health care and sex education, shall we? Remember up until this year when birth control wasn't free? Remember when American society made women feel like slutty tramps for wanting birth control? Remember how we shamed all those women for wanting abortions? hahaha, these are so funny. Sex education in American is pitiful, access to reproductive health is pitiful and when women have questions about these things, we shame them into oblivion, which is entirely unfair. Welfare, birth control, and pregnancy is a whole different blog post that I will have to tackle at some point.
The point is, people are dumb and we say dumb things to make ourselves feel better about the positions we are in, the difficulties we face in the economy, and the frustrations we feel. Unfortunately, we have to learn how to view such things, like welfare and poverty, objectively, so that we can have a better understanding. Being poor or experiencing poverty does not make you a bad person and those that shame you, they are the bad people. We have no idea what one's life story was before being impoverished and it is not up to you to decide that story for someone. I recently encountered a story that was heartbreaking. A gentleman died in a homeless shelter. Who was a star student, graduated with a degree in architecture and went on to become an architect and a consultant. His life led him, eventually, somewhere that was dark and full of pain and his last breath was spent in a bed a homeless shelter, surrounded by people who didn't know. This was a man who had people who loved him and believed in him. He was intelligent and creative. I did not know this person, but recounting his story, it still makes me cry. Why are we so cruel and why do we have so much hate for people we know nothing about?
I recently read a short essay by the Dalai Lama, "The Basic Sources of Happiness" and it was brilliantly short and to the point. When a person has a sense of responsibility for humanity, we will take care of all that is around us. My desire to help is not based on ignorance or blind hope, it is not built on the bleeding heart of religion or servitude. My desire to help is because I know it is right.
