Entitlement Zombies

Entitlement Zombies

Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, "entitlements". Every day  I read the morning news anxiously scanning to see if the Social Security checks will be sent this week. We are told that they will, but they may be a little delayed. Hmm, what happens when our tax payments are a little delayed? Penalties, interest, nasty letters and phone calls.We face consequences when our payment to the government are not submitted in a timely manner, regardless of the fact that our piddly little tax bill is but a drop in the vast ocean of that mythical, enigmatic and bottomless sea known as The Economy.
The rest of us live in definable, fixed economic reality. Any delay in income is stressful and inconvenient, but for individuals and families living on Social Security or W-2 (welfare) the impact is devastating. First of all most of us have very little, if any, money left over after we pay rent and bills. What little we do have is cleverly budgeted to the penny buying household items. Most of us have acquired inventive economic survival skills. For example, body wash can be used as shampoo, dish soap, laundry detergent and floor wash. Free newspapers can soak up spills, line pet cages and wash windows. If we pop into a coffee shop we grab handfuls of napkins to use as paper towels, coffee filters, kleenex and, yes, toilet paper.We know that at the end of the University semester it's time to go curbside shopping and pick up some new furniture. We wait for our neighbors kid to have a growth spurt so our younger child can have a new wardrobe. You get the point, we go with the flow and we "make do" as my grandmothers generation used to say.
 Most of us don't complain much, it's just a way of life when you are poor. In fact most of us have a pretty well developed sense of humor about our adaptive lifestyles. Some of you may chuckle in recognition at some of my "money saving tips" and you probably have several of your own to add to the list. If these tips evoke humor and/or nostalgia chances are you haven't learned abut poverty from the media but instead you have lived in it or know someone who has. The media is not going to go out of it's way to humanize the lives of those of us who will be affected by our government playing  chicken with our money.
Our money. That's right. Not China's money. Not the "taxpayers' (we are all taxpayers by the way) but our money. We have all contributed to Social Security. Even individuals who have never worked had a relative who has paid into Social security in good faith that if a family member became disabled, widowed or needed to retire that money will be there to help out. And guess what? It is. Social Security is not broke. In fact it is doing quite well thank you, except for the fact that it is being held ransom by politicians who will use any scheme at their disposal to further their own agenda. Social programs have become the scapegoat of these weak minded unimaginative fools who have no qualms about throwing the poor under the bus in order to distract from the real causes of  the economic problems our country is facing. I'm not going to go on about those problems, we all know the wealthy receive enormous tax breaks and are provided enough loopholes to avoid paying taxes all together. We all know about the bailouts and hopefully we all have some awareness of the cost of waging war all over the globe.
What strikes me is that the biggest scapegoat in this entire fiasco is virtually invisible. We may be presented with a human interest story here and there illuminating the struggles of working class America; stories that feature people who have lost jobs, had their homes foreclosed, had to have a rummage sale to make rent. The news anchors shake their heads sadly and and with waxy insincerity mourn that we are all facing hard times; which only serves to assure the rest of us that 'we're all in this together and as the great nation we are we will survive and come out shining and prosperous and perhaps a little stronger for our endurance' after we have pulled ourselves up by our good old American bootstraps (boots that were most likely made in China).
What the media doesn't want to show you is the human experience behind all these evil "entitlements", those of us who live by the 'making do' philosophy. We are people who have been poor before this whole mess started and who will most likely continue to be poor when this "economic crisis" is over. And yet we are the ones who are expected to make tough sacrifices and tighten our belts. Pretty easy to say when you don't ever see the reality of every day life in poverty. Murderers are able to kill their victims because they de-humanize them. In the movie Silence of the Lambs, Buffalo Bill referred to his victim as "it". I don't think the poor even get that much respect, in fact we are often left out of the picture almost entirely.The rhetoric drones on about "entitlement spending" and "social programs", which are in fact income. Income for real people, people who are struggling to get by already. People who have children and grandchildren and husbands and wives. People who have interests and hobbies and histories and stories to tell. People who are loved and who give love. We are not a bunch of faceless nameless zombies shuffling along demanding free money. Whatever our history, we are real people with real bills to pay, families to support and lives to get on with and we need and deserve recognition.

Image courtesy of sillypandabears
http://s499.photobucket.com/albums/rr358/SillyPandaBears/
© 2010-2011 Nanakoosa’s Place, authored by Jennifer Hazard

There will be Dust

I love living in old houses… or do I? Maybe it’s more accurate to say that I have always lived in old houses and therefore that’s what I’m accustomed to? And then, do I really LOVE living in old houses, or do I just like the look and the feel o f old houses.

Let’s review some Jenny-history. I have, with only two exceptions that come to mind, always lived in old houses; and I have lived in a lot of houses/apartments.

There is a table of certainties that I have acclimated myself to accept

• There will never be enough electrical outlets.
• There will be a problem with the bathroom. Such problems may include leaking faucets or pipes, mold and a toilet that may or may not be able to flush (eat small meals)
• It will be cold in the winter and stifling in the summer.
• Windows may or may not open or stay open.
• The peeling paint may or may not be hiding something containing lead.
• Some dirt is so old it will never go away.
• Mold is scary
• Mold is genetically coded for survival under any condition.
• Parts of the floor will be mismatched, peeling or may contain camouflaged nails or other stabby items on which you will stub your toe.
• One of the bedrooms used to be a closet
• Do not have visitors who are architects or practitioners of feng shui as guests, they will frighten you with their doomsday predictions of what your house will do to you.
• There may or may not be a ghost, who may or may not be friendly.
• There will be dust.

I’ve come to realize, as I looked around my room this morning (which probably used to be a closet) that maybe I really don’t like living in old houses. I have acclimated myself to the inconveniences and possible risks of these places so well that I have convinced myself that it’s my choice, my preference to do so. Doesn’t that sound familiar?  I knew a domestic violence counselor once who said “Even a pile of shit will become warm and comfy if you sit in it long enough” Some of us are so adept at adapting to our circumstances that we lose sight of any other possibilities. I have written previous posts discussing the ability we have to resist change. The habit we develop as a means of survival that restricts us from looking ahead, from considering options and making choices. What it really boils down to is taking charge of our own lives. The Victim mentality is an insidious trait. We think we are free because we have escaped an abusive partner or an addiction or poverty, but somewhere down the line we find ourselves unhappy with something in our lives that we have been taking for granted. As in my case we may have even convinced ourselves we actually choose the circumstance.

Having said that I have to concede that for someone with my income and several pets options are limited. I have realized however that limited does not equal non-existent, that somewhere in between the two points there exists the realm of possibility.

Most likely there is one certainty; there will be dust.

                          

© 2010-2011 Nanakoosa’s Place, authored by Jennifer Hazard

Thursdays Thought-Cheeky Changes

There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place. ~Washington Irving

What a delightful quote, it made me chuckle a bit, and then to laugh out loud. I wanted a quote about change to piggyback on yesterdays subject of seasons and cycles of change. Naturally there are many cheery, optimistic and inspirational quotes about change but I chose this one for it's realism and simplicity. In truth it speaks to our adaptable nature and resiliency. Those of us who have endured difficult times have often had to trade one discomfort for another in order to reach a destination. Maybe you've gone from a crappy marriage to a life of poverty as a single parent. Or perhaps you've left behind a drug addiction to spend 3 months in a treatment center with four crabby roommates and limited freedom. What ever situation caused us to exchange one bruised butt cheek for another, we eventually made it to the end of the Stagecoach ride, bruised, but having found a new and different place.
How have you "bruised your butt cheeks" to arrive at a destination?




© 2011 Nanakoosa’s Place, authored by Jennifer Hazard