No Sympathy

Big rant here.....

Last night I was watching Dateline NBC with Ann Cury. She was profiling poor families in America, and her team had been following several families for 9 months. I only felt any sympathy for 2 people on the whole show, and I'll tell you why.

One woman had quit a good job and moved herself and 4 kids into her parents' home to help take care of her father. In doing so, she was unable to find work after her father passed and thus lived in poverty in her mother's home. Ok, at first I thought "wow, sacrifice", that is until I saw her whip out a pack of Marlboro cigarettes. She'd been crying about how it was so hard to keep her kids fed, how they lived in filth because it was just so hard. This after they showed how her brother had lost his house and decided to bring his entire family to mom's house as well. Now, why in the hell would he do that? We're talking about a small 2 bedroom home. And its not like they tried to keep things clean, or help out. No, one woman (the daughter) did everything. Fourteen people living off of mom's social security check. Again, I thought about feeling sorry for them, until she was smoking and her sister in law was weighing in at well over 400lbs, sitting on the couch, dirty, slugging Pepsi out of a 2 liter bottle. Oh no, I don't feel sorry for any of them, except the kids who have no choice.

Another woman they profiled ran a food pantry. I did feel bad for her. She was trying to help so many people, and it just seemed they were taking advantage of the situation. Extremely obese people standing in line to get food, laughing and carrying on like they were at the grocery. In the final month when she thought the pantry would have to close she received a check from 2 people to help her out. Its sad she is doing a good thing for people who truly need her and she is getting taken advantage of. Seems thats how people in this country have decided to live....take advantage of those who try to help.

Another man, whom I did have sympathy for, had 2 sons. I believe the mother had basically walked out. Anyway, he was layed off from a job he'd had for 15 years and couldn't find work. He lost his house, and a neighbor allowed him to live in a run down house he had. All he had to do was pay utilities. HA! This man had no money, thus no utilities. He got his water from a creek and boiled it on a wood stove that was in the house. Being winter time, he would wake every 3 hours to keep the stove hot so his boys wouldn't be cold. They recycled cans, newspapers, bottles, etc. He flat out said "Even if I could find something in another state, I would go immediately go, but how would I get there?" He had makeshift beds for all of them, and bought food with the money he got from his recycled items. They had no TV, no cell phones, nothing. He's still out there with no job.

I can keep going.....but my point is this: Don't cry about being poor and live in a shack when you're wearing a gold chain around your neck, your kid has a cell phone, and your neighbor has a pool (inflatable or not. ) and you're watching TV while drinking soda. I don't care if you are living in a run down camper.

I've said it many, many times before. Things are going to hit the fan and soon....people like this will NOT survive, simply because they rely on handouts, instead of developing skills. I don't know much, but I'm working on it. I can grow food so my family doesn't starve. I know how to make do with nothing and not freeze to death or live in squalor.

I have no sympathy for people who refuse to try to help themselves.