Want vs. Need

OK, I've worked food retail and I've worked for a housing authority. I've seen abuse in the food stamp program as well as how our government would rather give a hand out than a hand up. The real problem plaguing society is the want vs. need concept. I've never felt like I've been rich. I've never felt poor. I did grow up in a single mom household with three kids where the only source of income was a Sears cafeteria waitress job. Many people would look down on this or think we were poor, but we weren't. We didn't get everything we wanted, but we had everything we needed. We did without cable, without the latest clothes, without most luxuries. Our dinners were nutritional but rarely fancy. When we ate out, it was an event. My mom never asked for food stamps. She never asked for government assistance. Never asked for financial help. She understood that these were programs for families that, AFTER ALL OTHER OPTIONS, still needed them.

Well, Thursday I was reading an article about an arrogant, entitlement hogging woman in Ga., who feels a hard working individual owes her an apology for embarrassing her, while she was arguing the eligibility of her grocery order for food stamps. The article doesn't mention what items she was arguing over, but I can guarantee it wasn't vegetables, health food, or medicated items. The manager let her use her food stamps for the entire order, but made the comment, ‘Excuse me for working for a living and not relying on food stamps like you,’. After this Nerger stated, “I turned around and realized how many people heard him and how many saw that happened and I was so embarrassed… I started crying,”. She then... POSTED THE WHOLE STORY TO HER FACEBOOK PAGE! She also contacted the local TV station.

Wow, where do I start. First, let's talk about the manager at Krogers. His comment may be rough, but is merited. He pays for that woman's food stamps and she should kiss his ass every time she walks into that store. There is nothing wrong with taking food stamps, if you need them, but don't think the rest of us are happily forking over our earnings so our families can eat less. The problem I see with the manager is that he committed food stamp fraud, if he accepted those food stamps for non-eligible items. Sometimes it is hard to say no to an arguing customer(as Mrs. Nerger was), but if this gets investigated, Krogers should get at least fined.

Now for Mrs. Nerger, I'm not saying she has an easy life. She must devote 12 hours every night to a dialysis treatment to combat her kidney disease. Her husband is a struggling business man(carpenter) and she is a stay at home mom. By her own admission, when she gets her kidney transplant, she wants to be, “a working member of society”, She would like to attend college to major in child psychology.

Let's sum this up:

• She was arguing about food stamp eligibility of products. Something that is controlled, not by the cashier and usually not by the manager, but by the law and through corporate pricing at the register.
• She was so upset that a store manager brought her food stamp usage up that she... GOES ON THE INTERNET TO TELL THE ONLINE WORLD SHE'S ON FOODSTAMPS.
• She was still so upset about the food stamp comment that she... “CONTACTS THE LOCAL TV STATION TO TELL THE REST OF THE WORLD SHE'S ON FOODSTAMPS.
• She believes being a college student is being a working member of society.
• She obviously has the internet. Maybe if she cut that expense out and several others, I'm sure she has, I'm guessing she could feed her family.
• Amazingly, she got a lot accomplished, when motivated by the store manager. If she put this energy into say... working, she would be very successful.

With politicians and bureaucrats running our social programs, things will only get worse. A bureaucrat whose job relies on how much in food stamps he gives out or a politician that wants to BUY VOTES, give out food stamps to a lot of people(1 in 7 Americans, currently).

There was a time when the government didn't steal money from hard working people for social programs. In that time, people who truly needed a hand up, went to their local food bank, house of worship or their neighbors. People gladly provided for those families, what they NEEDED and helped them get back on their feet. People could afford to do this, because they weren't being robbed by the government to pay off an over bloated, under regulated social program system.

I know someone will argue the character of people, but let me assure you, the most evil of men are more compassionate than the kindest of bureaucrats.

Why do we need food stamps in the first place? Why can't the work be done through food banks? That way, markets and people on food stamps could not defraud the system. Our friend Mrs. Nerger would not need to argue eligibility and would not be offended, because everybody there, would be there for the same reason. In fact, they would be getting what they NEED, not what they WANT.