A discussion with friend Joseph Michael Francis Parish led to my thinking about what its like to be poor. I know what its like personally, having been homeless on a couple of occasions in my life (though I did still have a job during one of those times). Right now my income is well below the poverty line. I know what its like to be on SNAP. Those who think its something most recipients celebrate and abuse are sorely mistaken. There are facts I could cite, but Im going to encourage people to put in the effort to do the research to find out the real statistics regarding SNAP and other forms of assistance, not the 1% favoring, Tea Party rhetoric too many people accept as true. Being on assistance can be downright embarrassing. It is a blow to the pride and morale of anyone who once had a decent job, or who has been unable to find a job that pays well enough to stay off assistance. Though Ive never done so, I do know people who would shop at a grocer miles away from where the lived to lessen the chance of running into a neighbor who then witnesses them using food stamps. When I was forced to rely on SNAP to put food on the table, I didnt think “Boy, this is the life. Let me go order a shrimp cocktail plate to celebrate my EBT card being filled up again.” Thats because despite my efforts at budgeting, my EBT card usually ran dry about the 20th of the month. Its hard to celebrate when you are mainly feeling relief that you can buy some groceries without having to spend rent money to do so. For some reason-probably because its a popular mind set to blame and denigrate the poor simply because they are poor-a lot of people expect them to endure even more hardship than they already do. They apparently think that, once the EBT money is given, the recipient should only spend it on the cheapest foods available (discussing the fact that the cheapest foods are often the most unhealthy foods, and so it is that people on SNAP often face regular health issues wealthier people dont), is topic for another discussion). This is a ludicrous and disingenuous attitude. Its hard enough being poor enough to qualify for SNAP. If a person uses those funds to buy steak, it could be simply because having steak now and then helps them and their family avoid the slide demoralization and depression that accompanies poverty, especially when it results from the loss of a job. If they load their groceries into nice cars, it may be a friends or a relatives car they borrowed because theirs was repossessed. Or perhaps they bought and paid off the car before financial hardship set in. If theyre talking on iPhones or other smartphones while waiting in the checkout line, it could be because a relative has put them on a shared plan, or pays for their plan. They use a smartphone because they dont have a computer at home: it lets them surf the net and do email, both necessary aspects of job hunting today. If they play the occasional game on the same phone, so what? Ill guarantee you that the number of people who use SNAP only as a last resort, dont abuse it, and want to get off of it as soon as possible outnumber those who abuse it by at least 100 to 1, according to statistics on fraud within the program. That means for every steak-buying, iPhone using, fancy car driving person you THINK is abusing SNAP, there are at least 99 others who dont. You probably dont notice those other 99 because youre too busy making judgments about those of whom you dont approve.
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 23:52:50 +0000
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