Financial Freedumb and Brownie

“Imagine for a second, you’ve lost your job. The economy is in a slump, no one is hiring, or so the media and rumors say. You’re sitting at home contemplating what to do next, and the thought of welfare comes up.”

I started off saying that in my post earlier about welfare. And it’s kind of something that deserves more though than I gave it originally–that’s a problem with being a sort of extrovert. I say before, I think. In this case, I write before I think.

I received tremendous feedback from folks about welfare, both personal and observational.

One has been there. Another really close.

D’s been pretty close, but she would never take welfare. At first I would’ve agreed, but the more I think about it, the more I realize maybe not…considering if I were in a really bad position, and I had mouths to feed.

And I agree Kira, welfare should never be abolished. We just need to help people get back to work, and somehow fish out those that are just gaming the system.

And John M, I have a problem with those folks too…the ones that don’t even want to try to work…and passing that type of thinking to their kids. Bad.

HC Writes:

I know a woman who left her husband and retained custody of their child. She had military experience but otherwise nothing beyond a high school degree. Could she have slogged thorugh a bunch of minimum wage jobs and kept afloat? Possibly. But she took on public assistance so that she could go back to school and get her college degree. She’s now happily married, working, and freelancing as well. She and her family are going to put more taxes back into the system than she took out in benefits.

Are there people who match the stereotype? Sure. But in my experience, it’s too useful a tool to dismiss as the refuge of the lazy.

When you add dependents to the mix, suddenly everything changes…doesn’t it? Pride aside, you put your priority on those who need you. Imagine living on minimum wage, trying to support a family, and living a life. Pretty impossible. Dire times call for dire actions…I’d even consider working illegally and taking welfare. I admit, I would if it meant supporting my family. I would work my ass off to get out of that situation, but if I had to I would.

If I needed money, here’s the order of priority: WORK. Try everything to work and support my family. If that doesn’t work out, I’d consider working illegally and taking welfare. Yes, I admit it, I would! Listen, I’m not going to try and justify this, because I know it’s “wrong,” but in the grand scheme of things, you have to weigh your choices, keep in mind, this is a DIRE situation. Live out on the streets with my kids? Not happening under my watch. I would do lawns, help dog sit, whatever, to try and make some income. Hey we all have our breaking point…I’ve admitted mine..what’s yours?

Single Ma hit it on the nose when she said, “If you did REAL research, instead of believing media hype and adding to the negative perceptions, you will find that “stereotypical welfare recipients” make up a very small portion of those who receive benefits.” I won’t deny it, I didn’t do the research I should’ve. I just wrote up what I felt, but now I know better. Isn’t that what life is all about? Learning? Some say when you stop learning, you’ve died. So there…Not only have I admitted my breaking point, but I’ve also admitted my fault. When all is said and done, that’s the only time we really know who we are.