Sunday, November 21, 2010

Do You Find the Smell of Death... Refreshing?

My story: I will admit I'm poor. I don't have a job, but I didn't quit working because it made life easier. I wasn't thinking whooo hoo now I can stay home and play with all the free money I'll have. I quit because of illness.

I'm young; I don't even have a credit card (except an old Kohl's card). Everything I've ever bought, I've paid for. I can't drive much these days, my car isn't the best, but I paid it off the day I bought it. I own an "expensive" bed, which I bought before I learned of my illness thinking I'd be more refreshed each day. I've lived an extremely stressful life and dealt with it. I tried hard to do the best I could in school, went to college for a couple years (to which I owe no debt) to get a "decent job," something to pay the bills with.

I planned to go back to school after finding employment. However, I was turned down for the jobs I applied, because even with schooling and internships, I didn't have the experience required. I found other work. All the while, I had applied for insurance, received insurance (all costs out of my own pocket), and experienced such great price increases that I could not afford the only plan I was told I could be offered. My only choice was to drop the coverage I had. Shortly after, I was diagnosed with a new illness. All tests and lab work were paid out of my own pocket. Think I was getting coverage then? Yeah, right. I tried and fought as hard as I could to stay in work, but it became too much. I had to quit, and I've been denied disability. Believe me, I didn't plan for this life. I don't want to ask for money. I'd like to earn my own!


We're going further. PUT DOWN YOUR SHIELDS. PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS.


There is a problem when people are constantly talking about the poor class, the middle class, as if they are all on drugs, popping out babies, and asking for free government help. That isn't the case. I believe our attention is being diverted, we're being forced to put blame on each other and point fingers. We scoff at others, act as if they are asking us to pay their way.

The problem is not with your neighbor, it's with the large corporations who have sent our jobs overseas, refused to offer health care for their employees, kept hours down so they wouldn't have to, and wouldn't allow vacation time, which in turn, causes people stress and illness! We've allowed this to happen, we watch the little box and believe everything it has to say. We get the magazines and go out to buy the things inside on credit. We put the items inside our pollution spewing cars, and we bring our findings inside the extravagant homes we don't own to fill up the space we don't need. And then we shout socialist at those who say we don't need it, those that try to DEPRIVE us.

We allow our fellow humans to be put to death for an imaginary war, an image that was created. We call Anti-Americanism on those who don't support this, those that don't believe this. We don't read the important words because we're too busy staring at the pretty faces on the magazine cover. AND we sit here arguing over topics we ALL only know snippets about. We could spend this time educating ourselves, finding our own solutions, working toward ways to bring this about to our government. Yet, we sit here arguing. I am poor, but I would not dare complain if about paying a bit more in taxes to help others receive life and health if I made, oh say... $200,000 a year. It's sickening the way we treat other humans. It almost makes me wish I were one of the cows waiting to be on your dinner plate next week.