As I reflect on the Blessings of G-d in/on my life this Shabbat, I am most greatfull that I am no longer subjected to the vitriol reserved for those who are the working poor in this country... There seems to be a false reality, alive and well in this country that: (1) The poor are poor because they are lazy... (2) The poor enjoy gaming the system... (3) That the poor use the system to live like kings and queens while the rest of us slave away to support their regal lifestyle at the public expense... And the problem with that very jaded and incorrect view is that as a child who was raised on the public purse, I never ever met those people... Most of my childhood playmates came from families who were in the same circumstance that I was in... I remember my mother begging the County Social Worker to authorize a clothing order so that I could have new clothes for school... I remember standing in a very long line on a cold winter days, and sweltering hot summer days, waiting for the dispensing of government surplus commodities...desperately hoping that I would not be seen by another child from school... I can still feel the hateful stares incurred from the spending of USDA Food Stamps at local grocery stores...or worse than that the use of a County grocery order... And still worse than all that was the school lunch line were I would look at the lunch cashier and say as quietly as possible, free lunch... The Prophets warn repeatedly that the harshest judgement of G-d awaits those who afflict the poor among us... H-s greatest disdain is reserved for those who afflict the children, elderly and immigrants among us...
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 03:01:52 +0000
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