remembering the days of welfare!

Written on 8:44 AM by gracefully discovering:

Yesterday at Sunday dinner we were reminiscing on the days of food stamps (before there was the EBT card...and you had a book of stamps..that looked like fake money!), welfare checks, section-8 housing, government cheese, powdered milk, butter and eggs! Many of us at the table had grown up in families where welfare was the only way we survived...without it, I know for sure my family would not have eaten, paid rent or paid the bills.

After my parents separated in 1990....our house burned down and we moved to Mechanicsville, an inner city project of Atlanta. That is where I experienced my first run at shame for being poor. Even though EVERYONE over there was poor and on welfare...it was just something about going to the corner store and buying stuff with food stamps. I used to BEG my mama not to send me to the store with food stamps. This is how bad it was- if I knew someone in the store, I would walk around until they were gone before I went to the counter with our groceries...even though I just saw them buy their stuff with food stamps!

This was such an embarrassing time for me- I'm not even really sure why. But being on public assistance just had a bad stigma to it!
My brother really didn't have a problem with it- I don't think...bc I never heard him complaining. But I had countless days of begging to the point of tears for my mom to go to the store her damn self to get the overpriced bread, milk, cheese, meat, or whatever else we were buying with a book of stamps!

Now that I look back- it wasn't all that bad! I mean we never were hungry and we always had a roof over our heads! I actually am thankful for the assistance that we received.
But I do believe that some people get too comfortable with public assistance that it hinders them from wanting to better themselves. I mean, if you can eat, sleep, pay your bills, buy your kids clothes...FOR FREE...then why would you want to go and get a job (that probably won't pay you as much). I haven't looked at the recent welfare reform requirements. I'm pretty sure that in order to receive assistance, one has to have or job or be looking for a job. But let me double check that I'll update ya later.

Some people really need assistance to feed, clothe, and house their children. But some people really are abusing the system and need to get it together- so that we can break the generational cycle of poverty! Let's teach our kids to be self sufficient, independent, hard-working and diligent so that when they are older, they will not need public assistance. None of my mothers children have relied on public assistance since we have been grown and that is a blessing. But it surely helped us out while we were children!