Warning: What follows may be perceived controversial and somewhat political. Read at own risk.
My family and I currently receive Food Assistance from the state of Florida government. 3 years ago, I had a full time job working as a staff member for a major public university. I had what most would perceive as a good job. I made 35,000 a year and our family had full medical benefits. 35,000 is not that much anymore. My wife and I were doing all we could to make ends meet. We were scraping by and it wasn't going to get better. We were on WIC so that the kids could have milk and cereal and basic staples. It was tough. Together we made the decision that I would return to graduate school to pursue higher education to improve our standing. This was going to require sacrifices. We were going to go into debt in the short term to hopefully be better off in the long run. I graduate this coming May and while we're not sure where we will be in a year, we are sure that we made the right decision. When we looked at what we needed to do to make graduate school financially possible it became obvious fairly quickly that if we wanted our children to eat while I was in school, Food Assistance would be necessary.
Recently a family member who I deeply care about shared a picture on a popular social networking site. The captions in the picture spoke out against those who are on the S.N.A.P. (commonly known as food stamps) program. The picture showed a sign at a zoo asking zoo goers to not feed the animals so that they would not become reliant on this form of feeding. It then compared those on food assistance to the animals, saying that we would become reliant on this assistance as the animals become reliant on the food.
I have several issues with this picture/caption combo.
1) People are not animals. To associate people on Food assistance with animals in rude at best, and from what I understand, not in a Christian or a humanistic way of thinking in any way.
2) One in Seven Americans are currently on some form of Food Assistance (Either SNAP or the more popular WIC). Yes, this number is extremely high. Yes, I agree that this is concerning that so many are reliant on this assistance. With that number of people, there is a good chance that each of us know several families on this assistance. If we were all aware that our friends whom we think highly of were those we were demonizing, perhaps we would all think a little longer about what we say about those one food assistance.
3) People on food assistance are not proud to be on food assistance. My wife has an acquaintance who went on a political rant demonizing those on food assistance. Obviously, this person has no idea that our family is on the food assistance program. Without any intent to do so, this person made my wife feel awful about herself. Those of us who are on food assistance are not proud that we are reliant on this help. Most of us are embarrassed by it. We do not go around advertising that we are on food assistance, instead we are quietly grateful that our children have food every day.
3) There is a stigma that those on food assistance are simply free loading on the government and do not do their part to provide for their own families. For the most part, nothing could be further from the truth. SNAP gives each person on it the equivalent of slightly more than 5 dollars per day to eat. Have you ever tried to eat on 5 dollars a day? It is possible.
Most people using this type of assistance are working as hard as they can to make ends meet, and it simply isn't happening. The food assistance program is meant to be a short term help. My wife spends many hours reapplying for assistance every 6 months. We look forward to the day when we do not qualify, meaning that we are able to feed our children ourselves, without government assistance. We are working hard to get to that day. In the meantime, please don't assume we are simply free loading, trying to get anything we can for free.
With all this being said, please, I urge each of you, have a little compassion. Realize that you know people who are on food assistance. Realize that they aren't happy about this. Try to be sensitive in what you say. Please, I urge you. We feel awful enough as it is.
Thank you.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Friday, December 9, 2011
Holiday Celebrations
In the past few days, the area I grew up in has been in the news. The county courthouse specifically. There is a brewing controversy over the nativity scene that is on the courthouse lawn. The scene has been there every Christmas season since I can remember growing up.
You can read the article about it here.
The article states that a company in Wisconsin, "Freedom From Religion", is suing the county to take the nativity scene down. The company claims that a concerned citizen in Henderson County contacted them. The locals want to know why a company in Wisconsin should have any interest in it.
I sympathize the citizen who contacted the company, though s/he may be offended far too easily. The citizens in the community are using social media to say that if that person was truly offended, not simply trying to make a stir, then they should put their name behind it. I disagree. In a small conservative community like this one, that's virtually asking for a rock to be thrown through your window or worse.
As a Christian, I value the Christmas season as a chance to reflect on Christ. As a Mormon, I understand what it is like to have your faith disregarded, mocked, and devalued. I sympathize with anyone of other faiths who go through trials much worse than I will ever face. I do not agree with people who claim that this country was founded as a Christian nation. The way I understand history, the pilgrims came here from a country that claimed to be "Christian" because they were not allowed to worship the way they wanted to. How are we any better if we simply substitute our Christianity for the one the Pilgrims fled?
I do not however think that the Nativity scene should be taken down. Not for any religious reason, but rather because it is a tradition in the town. A better option may be to add to the display. There are people of many different faiths in the county. Most, if not all, of those faiths are celebrating a valued holiday this time of year. There is no reason the county couldn't add representations of each of those holidays to their courthouse display.
There does seems to be a vocal, somewhat hostile, sentiment in the town that if the nativity scene were taken down, the children in the community would fail to learn the true meaning of Christmas. Perhaps it's more important what children learn in their home than what little knowledge they may glean by looking at the holiday display on the courthouse.
You can read the article about it here.
The article states that a company in Wisconsin, "Freedom From Religion", is suing the county to take the nativity scene down. The company claims that a concerned citizen in Henderson County contacted them. The locals want to know why a company in Wisconsin should have any interest in it.
I sympathize the citizen who contacted the company, though s/he may be offended far too easily. The citizens in the community are using social media to say that if that person was truly offended, not simply trying to make a stir, then they should put their name behind it. I disagree. In a small conservative community like this one, that's virtually asking for a rock to be thrown through your window or worse.
As a Christian, I value the Christmas season as a chance to reflect on Christ. As a Mormon, I understand what it is like to have your faith disregarded, mocked, and devalued. I sympathize with anyone of other faiths who go through trials much worse than I will ever face. I do not agree with people who claim that this country was founded as a Christian nation. The way I understand history, the pilgrims came here from a country that claimed to be "Christian" because they were not allowed to worship the way they wanted to. How are we any better if we simply substitute our Christianity for the one the Pilgrims fled?
I do not however think that the Nativity scene should be taken down. Not for any religious reason, but rather because it is a tradition in the town. A better option may be to add to the display. There are people of many different faiths in the county. Most, if not all, of those faiths are celebrating a valued holiday this time of year. There is no reason the county couldn't add representations of each of those holidays to their courthouse display.
There does seems to be a vocal, somewhat hostile, sentiment in the town that if the nativity scene were taken down, the children in the community would fail to learn the true meaning of Christmas. Perhaps it's more important what children learn in their home than what little knowledge they may glean by looking at the holiday display on the courthouse.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Why it's here
The other day, I was home for lunch between a morning class and a meeting I had to be at later in the day, and the phone rang. Margaret was busy, so I answered it and was somewhat surprised when it was a friend of hers from Iowa. After speaking to her about it, I realized that this is a common occurrence. And it's not just this friend. Many friends from Iowa, Maryland (both places we have lived in the past) and even Florida (where we just moved to a couple months back) call our house on a regular basis, just to talk with my wife.
I began to wonder how it is that she is so much better at making, and more importantly, keeping friends than I am. Much of it is that she is a better friend than I am. She has no problem listening to others problems, sharing her life and the lives of our children with friends, and she will pick up the phone and call an old friend just to talk. Making them feel loved, remembered, and want to keep that relationship.
I, on the other hand, have never been bad at making friends. I have many friends (238 on Facebook as of this morning). Very few are close. Of the two that I consider close, I've talked to each of them once in the past 6 months. One, when we stayed at his house on the way to Florida from Iowa, and the other wasn't even really speaking with, but messaging back and forth during an online draft for the fantasy football team we play in together every year.
Part of this is caused by the fact that I am not comftorable listening to other peoples problems, especially when I had nothing to do with the cause of the problem, or have no ability to fix the problem. (My friends tend to be the same) Because of that, I'm extremely hesitant to share personal information and beliefs with others. I'm overly cautious about my personal beliefs offending someone. I've never apologized for what I believe, but I've also never thought it my place to insist someone else must believe what I do. I believe not only are my views justified, I believe they're right. I also believe that if you disagree with me, you're probably wrong. But that's okay. We can talk about it, share our views, and respect each other, maybe even more so after our conversation.
But I don't do this, talk about my beliefs that is. Much of that is because I have had very bad experiences with people respecting me when they disagree with me, so I just shut down, keep quiet, and keep them to myself. I realized this past week that most people may view that as not having strong, convicted beliefs. Therefore, a blog.
The point of this blog, is to give me a forum. A place to share my beliefs. I plan to cover a myriad of subjects. I will write about what's been on my mind. Some, if not most, will be controversial. I welcome comments. I welcome your thoughts on these subjects. And I definitely welcome disagreements, although as I said earlier, I will probably just think you're wrong, but that's okay.
I began to wonder how it is that she is so much better at making, and more importantly, keeping friends than I am. Much of it is that she is a better friend than I am. She has no problem listening to others problems, sharing her life and the lives of our children with friends, and she will pick up the phone and call an old friend just to talk. Making them feel loved, remembered, and want to keep that relationship.
I, on the other hand, have never been bad at making friends. I have many friends (238 on Facebook as of this morning). Very few are close. Of the two that I consider close, I've talked to each of them once in the past 6 months. One, when we stayed at his house on the way to Florida from Iowa, and the other wasn't even really speaking with, but messaging back and forth during an online draft for the fantasy football team we play in together every year.
Part of this is caused by the fact that I am not comftorable listening to other peoples problems, especially when I had nothing to do with the cause of the problem, or have no ability to fix the problem. (My friends tend to be the same) Because of that, I'm extremely hesitant to share personal information and beliefs with others. I'm overly cautious about my personal beliefs offending someone. I've never apologized for what I believe, but I've also never thought it my place to insist someone else must believe what I do. I believe not only are my views justified, I believe they're right. I also believe that if you disagree with me, you're probably wrong. But that's okay. We can talk about it, share our views, and respect each other, maybe even more so after our conversation.
But I don't do this, talk about my beliefs that is. Much of that is because I have had very bad experiences with people respecting me when they disagree with me, so I just shut down, keep quiet, and keep them to myself. I realized this past week that most people may view that as not having strong, convicted beliefs. Therefore, a blog.
The point of this blog, is to give me a forum. A place to share my beliefs. I plan to cover a myriad of subjects. I will write about what's been on my mind. Some, if not most, will be controversial. I welcome comments. I welcome your thoughts on these subjects. And I definitely welcome disagreements, although as I said earlier, I will probably just think you're wrong, but that's okay.
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