I Rant from Time to Time

Posted on February 6, 2013 by joey

http://www.humanevents.com/2012/05/07/missing-400-purse-holding-800-cash-plus-food-stamp-cards/

My friend Brown Eyes LuLu posted the article, which led to an argument, which inspired this post.

My response to the article came out as a furious rant on my Facebook status.  It went a lil somethin like this:

In case you’ve never been poor, and you think people who receive EBT, food stamps, state health care, and subsidized housing are the problem with this country, then you need to unfriend me and go about your merry way, because until you’ve lived in poverty, like a family of six on $12k a year — then you’re unfit to judge anyone on this matter.
Every time you post some shit about poor people with their iphones and their Coach bags and their tattoos, I think YOU’RE the problem.
When you lose your job, when you get divorced, when your house gets torn apart by mother nature, you don’t suddenly become a lesser person.  You can’t live on your savings forever, and your tattoos don’t magically disappear from your body.  You can’t sell a vehicle if you’re upside-down on the loan, you can’t sell a house if you’re upside-down in equity.
Where is your passion for justice when it comes to all the parents who don’t pay their child support? Did you know that child support is counted as income, and can prevent you from receiving aid EVEN IF IT’S UNPAID?!?
I have been a woman in a nice house, with a nice car, and nice things, WHILE RECEIVING FOOD STAMPS AND STATE PROVIDED HEALTHCARE. It was not good. It was not a lifestyle choice. Pride, which people so admire, kept my husband from claiming the unemployment he was entitled to. I’m sure you’re applauding him for that, but it was my humility in seeking welfare that kept my family ALIVE for those months.
So if you have a problem with people on aid, then you have a problem with us.  If you judge people like them, you judge people like me. Stop judging all the people who need it for months or years as though they’re all the people who abuse it. You sound like an ass.

I realize that’s quite a bit to digest in terms of information, profanity and opinion, but sometimes it’s just better to be short and snappy.

scumcollector

About joey

Neurotic Bitch, Mother, Wife, Writer, Word Whore, Foodie and General Go-To-Girl
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22 Responses to I Rant from Time to Time

  1. baldjake70 says:
    February 7, 2013 at 10:06 PM

    Brilliant as always. It is moments like this that I wonder why you are not a lawyer, just like some people of long ago who you used to work for. You are spirited, passionate, witty, and brilliant. I love you!

    Like

  2. Matt Roberts says:
    February 8, 2013 at 12:28 AM

    This is great stuff, like I told you on Facebook. The only other side to this is there are those people who DO take advantage of the system, but your point rings true. NOT EVERYONE does.

    Like

  3. Pingback: The Least You Can Do | joeyfullystated

  4. LindaGHill says:
    January 24, 2015 at 3:35 PM

    You tell ’em, Joey! You should be immensely proud of this. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Dan Antion says:
    January 24, 2015 at 6:41 PM

    I have experienced close encounters with poverty a few times and I can appreciate where you are coming from on this post. You are correct. I have seen people who have been judged too quickly as taking advantage of the system only to discover, after getting to know them, that their circumstances were nothing I could comprehend. I have tried to explain these circumstances to others, but they turn a deaf ear to what I’ve learned. There were/are comfortable in their assumptions.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. Luanne says:
    January 24, 2015 at 7:41 PM

    Look, you’re getting more likes on this post!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. shanjeniah says:
    January 24, 2015 at 10:25 PM

    Our lives took a nosedive when our second child died after a hugely expensive 12 days in the NICU….desperate to heal, we got pregnant right away – and then I was put on bedrest at 18 weeks, her life in serious jeopardy…

    And then things got really scary for a couple of years…

    You were so spot-on in this post. Life is a continuum. Those who’ve never known hardship, money-wise, ought maybe to remember that they might. The future holds what it does….for all of us. And if that iPhone, or the bag bought in simpler times is a grace note in an otherwise terrifying and desolate life – that’s something to cling to, a hope to aspire to…

    I’m glad things are better for you now. ❤

    Liked by 2 people

    • joeyfullystated says:
      January 24, 2015 at 11:34 PM

      Thank you. I’m glad you’re among the compassionate, but I’m sorry for your prior circumstances as well. Very sorry to read of your loss. A couple of scary years made us stronger, as I’m sure you can relate.
      Grace note. Exactly. Well said.

      Liked by 1 person

      • shanjeniah says:
        January 24, 2015 at 11:54 PM

        Yes, i understand. The statistics for parents who lose an infant splitting up is something like 85%. We made it through determination, and accepting our different ways of grieving Elijah.

        We are stronger. If that didn’t undo us, we aren’t going to let something minor do it – and, next to that, it’s pretty much all minor.

        I believe that every life is better with grace notes. And a tattoo can be a permanent reminder of a better time, and an inspiration for the future.

        Liked by 1 person

        • joeyfullystated says:
          January 24, 2015 at 11:59 PM

          Well I don’t have a tattoo, but I see posts about the tattoo thing all the time, and it strikes me as utterly ridiculous. I didn’t have a cell phone or a Coach purse then, either, but again, ridiculous for people to make assumptions and whatnot.
          Some homeless people live in their Mercedes. Shit happens.
          I agree completely, if losing a baby, being homeless, or deployments didn’t wreck us, I’m not sure what could. Truthfully, I don’t think about the wrecking so much as I’m thankful for every single day.
          Thank you for sharing so much with me today. I really appreciate that.

          Liked by 2 people

          • shanjeniah says:
            January 25, 2015 at 12:39 AM

            I am also without tattoo (never could get past thinking I might like to have one someday, and it seems like something I ought to be really committed to, if I do it), and I would have no idea what to do with a designer bag – I’m hopelessly plain! I’ve got a cheapo cell phone, but hope to upgrade, even though I’m not much of a phone girl – I’d like a hot spot phone to have for when we’re camping or traveling…or when I get lost….

            Sharing tends to draw us closer, and build understanding. You’ve endured and survived some deep trauma. I’m happy that you have. ❤

            Liked by 1 person

  8. dynasticqueen says:
    January 25, 2015 at 3:42 AM

    A-f***ing-MEN. AMEN! Thumbs up. High 5. All that stuff. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  9. virginiallorca says:
    January 25, 2015 at 3:29 PM

    Been there. Back again. No market for the art. Got some gold and silver to sell. This time we are old and on pensions, so no light at the end of this tunnel. Love arguing on certain sites: “Um. Yeah they do take food stamps at McD’s”. No food stamps for us, though. Everybody in my family is wealthy. Even my daughter. Funny how seldom we hear from them these days.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Silver in the Barn says:
    January 26, 2015 at 10:08 AM

    I’ll never forget my husband getting laid off in our early marriage and the long, long wait for unemployment checks to arrive. We were down to nothing, really, and worried about how to feed the baby. You learn awfully quickly not to judge and never to take a thing in your life for granted.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Ellen Hawley says:
    February 21, 2015 at 1:17 PM

    Glad you referred us all to this. Everyone should read it. Everyone.

    Liked by 1 person

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