The ease of hand-outs and the heartbreak of my life.

I generally post asking questions about the topics the more knowledgeable and eloquent members post, but, tonight I am posting simply because, I am DAMN mad.

I am a caucasion 29 year female physician. I am damn proud of who I am and what I have accomplished. I have 2 brothers, quite spaced in age, one in 5th grade, one of legal age. I found out Saturday, my brother of legal age, applied for government assistance. I do not mean simply welfare. He applied (and was approved) for food stamps, welfare,and a form of assistance which pays his utility bill. He was even approved for free housing in a government housing project, which he 'graciously' declined stating and I quote, " I ain't livin' in no project hood" . He was quite upset at the fact that they denied him disability. When I questioned what his disability claim was, he stated, " I have chronic pain in my right knee from when I slipped working at Hardee's". Let me interject here, that this was the only 'real' job he ever had, and he had it for one (1) day. He said it was too hard and people were mean to him. Prior to that, he worked for our parents' company, a form of construction, to which, when he didn't call out, he was consistantly late while living in the same house the business portion calls an office. He is PERFECTLY healthy. There isn't any reason he cannot work. His only affliction is laziness.

I do not come from one of those high class Ivy League Families. I come from anti-union auto-workers, and carbon plant workersand the under-revered farmers. Everyone had to make their own way, with some assistance from our parents when absolutely needed because it was hard for them too. He was not raised to be a dependant on portions of tax payer's paychecks to survive.

He (my brother) called to tell me about his approval for this 'assistance', I wish I could adequately convey to you reader, the pride in his voice as he told me about how easy his life was going to be now. I asked him what he planned to do with his days, he replied "smoke ciggarettes and watch movies. I litterally vomitted. To WANT to be a dependant... to be so unaware of , or maybe not even care, that his hard working family, is still supporting him, only now, he doesn't even have to ask for their help, it's taken directly out of their paycheck.

I think most people, with the exception of a very lucky few know, what it's like to feel hunger, and there's nothing you can do about it because you had to pay the electric bill or some other necessity,However, I think most of us, would seek other means rather than seek a freebie lifestyle compliments of the american tax payers.

My anger does not simply rest on him, however he has all of my dissapointment. My anger rests on the mediums that are set in place to act as filters to ensure that these forms of assistance get to families who have no other way, Not to invest in people who simply seek to do nothing, and not show a return on that investment. How many more people out there are living it up on my,your, and your families dime? How many of YOU have truly needed this assistance and been denied? Why is it so easy to manipulate this system? I hope this angers you to the same point it has me.

I appologize to post this here,however, I have nowhere else to express this anger. It upsets my family if we stay on subject too long, and I would not embarass him by telling family friends, though as proud of himself as he sounded, I have no doubt he will tell them himself. The embarassment then will rest with our parents in the ever present question 'where did we go wrong'.

I cannot explain the feeling of defeat that this has imposed on me. It feels as though 'they' who every they are, have won. 'They' are taking capable youth, and teaching that it is alright to let the government take control of your life. I feel utter defeat. The stability I struggled to aquire, is going to simply handed over to someone who has invested nothing.

[edit on 16-2-2009 by Haiku]

I've got a brother similar to yours, but my brother has worked since he was 16 and now in his mid 40's, decides he's tired of working. He intentionally got fired from his last job for the unemployment, and now thinks he's going to live off of disability for a non existant disability. He is in the process of doing the paperwork.

There are people who are proud to work and make their own way, and then there people who want everything to be handed to them.

Wow, great story thanks for sharing. I am always disgusted by what people claim as "disability" it sheds a horrible light on the people that really need it. This blatant laziness is disgusting and a drain on our system. People that are "proud" of their government assistance should be simply be locked up...at least that way someone who wants to work will be able to get a job as a prison guard for the money that would have been wasted by this slob.

I feel for you and your family. Do you ever catch yourself wanting to expose them to the proper agencies as fraudulent? I could not ever do it because I know he would be jailed, but I cannot help thinking about the possibility of it.

I just hope he doesn't get approved for disability. Lots of people have disabilities and still work. I mean if he was really disabled, that would be different. I think it's a matter of pride, I mean not having any.

So what you are basically saying is that you are jealous of your brother?

If you are a physician maybe you should have specialized in psychiatry so that you could analyze the problem more clearly.

You can look at it as "the money taken straight from your paychecks" or you can understand that it is government squandering of public monies in any case.

I often wonder about the attitude many here take on refusal to help those "who can't" for whatever reason. Does this mean that you do not yet see the interconnectedness of us all? If not, I humbly suggest that you all start cerebral exploration of such concepts. Once you've got your mind around it, take it to heart.

reply to post by ben91069


Perhaps you missed the part about this lady's disappointment in her brother accepted this dirty money? And the part about how he was supoosingly raised better than that?

That's ok, maybe you should specialize in literacy . Here I'll help you out
www.iteracy.com

www.hookedonphonics.com

Maybe you are one of the system suckers bleeding your country dry, if so you should say thank you to the rest of us for your full little tummy.

Reply to ben,

Perhaps you only read the last 2 lines of my posting and drew a quick conclusion, after having a couple of Moderators read and attempt to discern the 'jealousy' you think my post conveyed, and them not having found it, I am curious as to why with all of the negativity I placed on accepting government assistance, you could possibly find it something to feel jealousy over.
Then again, if you are on government assistance, and I have offended you, I appologize, unless your are simply leaching funds from a broken system.
Maybe you were simply being arguementitive, but if not and truly miscontrued what my post was saying, I have the number of a Sylvan Learning Center if you need help with your context clues.

Either way, I'm a good sport, I appreciate the reply, star for you

[edit on 17-2-2009 by Haiku]

reply to post by Haiku


I feel your pain. My little brother also feels the same way and has tried many times to live off the government feeling that he is entitled to these services. I applaud you for making this thread. I also know many of my other relatives who are free loading and are more than capable of working to earn a living.

Id focus on the bigger fish to fry. Your gonna sit and complain on a forum about your brother getting government assistance? Why dont you make a post concerning the government employees who have been conviceted of crimes and still receive their pentions. Its madness that you moan about somone getting a chance to grab one of the crumbs that falls from the giants beard.

Originally posted by Haiku
Reply to ben,

*snip*

Maybe you were simply being arguementitive, but if not and truly miscontrued what my post was saying, I have the number of a Sylvan Learning Center if you need help with your context clues.

Either way, I'm a good sport, I appreciate the reply, star for you

[edit on 17-2-2009 by Haiku]

Quote of the week, right there folks.

In order to stay on topic, though, I appreciate your situation, and only have a small bit of advice to offer; don't let this bring YOU down too far. You work your way through life, which is all we, as responsible citizens, can do. I manage a local restaurant, and have many employees leeching off the system in addition to their (admittedly low) wages. Sometimes, all we can do in this spot is count our blessings, work our asses off, and sleep easy knowing that we have done all we can to further our lives and livelihoods.

With you on this, haiku

Why should we pay tax to support someone who is basically taking the p*** out of us by lying about fitness for work?

I would be interested to see if this attitude is becoming more prevalent amongst that age group. If yes, then we have lots to worry about.

I work to create freedom for myself...not toil to allow someone else to benefit without merit.

Different if the need was genuine - i am all for supporting the needy.

Thanks for such a passionate post

I'm curious, lets say someone had the choice, who would willingly go on foodstamps, welfare (which is around 700 a month I think), and have their utilities paid? In addition to that, you also can't make more than 900ish working or else you lose the benefits. So in a year working you'd get about 19k and without working 8.4k per year. Not glamorous by any means. Hypothetically, lets say you're single and no kids, who would choose that? I don't think many Americans would want to do that even if they had the choice. Could you even be happy living off such a little amount? I doubt it.

[edit on 4-3-2009 by ghaleon12]

reply to post by Haiku


It is a shame because there are people out there who really need this assistance, and people like this make it look bad.

I would keep an eye on him, and take photographic evidence of any activity with a "bum" knee. If he does anything physical, report it.

I am not defending him by any stretch of the imagination, but I have both knees wracked with arthritis. It is horribly painful. And it is amazing how much it restricts your life.

[edit on 4-3-2009 by nixie_nox]

It really is hard not to become mind-numbingly enraged when you see the lazy availing themselves of programs that are meant to help those who have legitimate problems which prevent them from working at a pace and schedule comparable to the rest of the world. When you boil it down its fraud in every sense of the word; when you are scamming a system designed to help the unfortunate of society for your own ends (and especially when you are doing it so you can remain lazy) it should be a jailing offense no different than the worker pocketing money out of the register or skimming money out of the books when doing end-of-month accounting practices.

Click here for more information.

Click here for more information.

Um, sorry? That's the heartbreak of your life?

I have a question.

You say you're a physician.

In fact, that's my question.

You must exhibit a certain maturity about life to become a qualified physician.

The feeling that YOU feel utterly defeated over someone else's actions is a sign that you have yet to develop this outlook.

It's impossible to control someone else, don't you understand that?

You can only decide how you are going to respond.

Your brother's behaviour appears consistent with hidden depressive illness also, have you considered that possibility?

Yeah, I can't believe this --dumb-- young girl is a physician. Any medical Doctor would consider mental illness such as clinical depression or for example, one of the DSM's personality disorders which --can-- be disabling. I don't believe this chick, I think she's full of crap. She just wants, for reasons of her own, to push the hatred lies that originated under the Reagan administration, which was propaganda that demonized assistance recipients. I provided links which were legitimate news and magazine articles about this, in another forum that was attacking 'welfare', but of course it got rolled over, out of sight out of mind, in lew of more ignorance. Why don't (sic) 'people' like her complain about the trillions that vanish into the black budgets and unnaccountable bailouts? Just think about how many oppressed people only one billion dollars would help. How many modest houses could be built.