Hunger in America jumps 'unprecedented' 46 percent, page 2

I have to contribute to this article, speaking from personal experience.

I come from a poor family. By that, I mean my dad was the only parent working while I was growing up, and he brought home around $16,000 a year. Many times we ate nothing. Sometimes we had a piece of bread. We didn't have electricity for 2 years, but to be honest, our family was much closer without the distractions. Now my family all spends time in separate bedrooms watching tv, playing PS3, or on the computer. *ahem*

Not to be off topic. During this time, I spent a great deal of my days with an aunt at the local food banks. We would go from one to the other in hopes of getting food to last us through the month, as it is only legal to receive help once a month.

Now while it may sound like I am sympathizing with this article, I'm actually not.

Yes, we were hungry. But I learned that people know how to lie. They know how to horde. They know how to maintain morbid obesity just from food banks.

As I grew older, I didn't stray from the role I learned as a child. The moment I could, I got on Food Stamps. Just for my wife and I, we received $575 a month. We were eating steaks while hard working people were making do with sandwiches.

Now I get to blame the government...

They don't really look into anything. If you say you're hungry, they'll certainly swoop you up into their "loving" arms and help you gain some extra fluff. People then become enabled. They forget how to do things for themselves. They stop exercising. They stop working. All is handed to them, so why should they?

My point is.. this article is not on target. Food banks don't look into the homes of the people they feed. They hear the words. They look at the words written on their required applications. Nothing more.

The statistics are useless.

Take my word for it, America is far from starved.

[edit on 3-2-2010 by EagleTalonZ]