This is My Prayer

Today I met a 33-year-old woman who has two children by a married man. I am told that it was while she was pregnant with the second child that she learned the man was already married, and so she left him. I had to tell her that she did not qualify for help with paying for health insurance because her income was too low, and that she did not qualify for Medicaid because she was too young. She told me about her income, and I asked if she planned on going to work, to which she replied she could not work, that she has never worked. She appeared to be in good health, but remembering how ticked I get when people tell me I look "alright" I asked if she had a condition that kept her from working and she told me that she was "slow." 

 

Me:  But you can do something, can't you? Surely there is something you can do to earn an income. 

 

Her:  No, I’m just slow.

 

Me:  Well, maybe it takes you longer to learn something, but does that mean you cannot?

 

Her:  Well they said I was slow and I can’t do anything. Any way if I work I’ll lose my benefits?

 

Me:  What benefits?

 

Her:  SSI

 

Me:  And how much is that?

 

Her:  $648 a month.

 

Me:  What else do you get?

 

Her:  That’s it. And child support.

 

Me:  And how much is that?

 

Her:  $294 a month.

 

Me:  Don’t you think you’re worth more than $648 a month? What if you could make $1296 a month? Wouldn’t you be better off?

 

Her:  And they already took some of my money.

 

Me:  What money of yours did ‘they’ take. You haven’t earned any money! Don’t you want to be free to earn your own money?

 

No response.

 

When I took a really good like at her, I saw a hollow, depressed, broken, hopeless soul. I had no idea how she came to be so, but it hurt me to my core. Part of me wanted to scream, and the other part wanted to cry. I cannot help but speculate that from an early age she was indoctrinated to believe she had nothing of value and could do nothing of value. I would like to meet the people who gave her the foundation to imprison herself for life.

 

God did not create you to have nothing to do or nothing to offer. If you ever decide you want to do something with your life, I will do whatever I can to help you find a way.

 

In my work I meet people of all socio-economic ilks.  On the one hand, I have visited well-cared for homes, modest and absolutely opulent, and on the other hand, one so infested that it caused me to stand.  (I explained that my knees were bothering me and the seat was kind of low, so it wasn't blatant lie.)  I have met young adults whose sour attitudes and "I-want-isms" made me envision slapping them, while that voice in my right ear (yep, I hear voices) chided me about passing judgment. And I have met folks whose lives, after decades of work and responsible living, have been challenged and stifled by lost retirement funds and chronic illnesses, and whose level-headed and gracious manner made my work easy, even when bearing not-so-good news.

 

Until I met that 33-year-old, I thought I had seen it all. I am haunted by her visage. And I pray she will find the will to leave her prison and embrace the good, bad and ugly of life – its joys, sorrows, failures and successes. I have no idea how I can help someone so enslaved. And I pray that she will call, and when she does, He will show me a way.

 

This is my prayer.

Entitlements -- Part II

Part I of this writing mentioned Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, a massive work of fiction, which I finished listening to yesterday evening. While the book is a work of fiction, it is very much grounded into reality. It is also one of the reasons I started this series on Entitlements. Another reason, the catalyst that exploded my sense of NOW, was a CNN story posted by a Facebook friend (thanks, Phyllis T), about a young woman who is suing her college/university for $70,000 tuition and $2,000 for emotional suffering, because she ("the Graduate") has been unable to find a job after graduating.

When I first heard of the Graduate's story and read, presumably in or own hand, her accounting of why she is suing for $72,000, my mind was bombarded with so many questions. My sensibilities were outraged. And, I was embarrassed, in the same way that whenever the previous POTUS (Bush 43) opened his mouth to speak, I would cringe. After all, what school GUARANTEES any student a job? And to what kind of job, if any, does the Graduate feel she is entitled?

For years there has been some trend afoot: a conspiracy to reward mediocrity as the best one has to offer. My father called that "hitting it a lick and a promise."

to be continued.

Entitlements -- Part I

For the last week or so I have been listening to Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." In this fictional work of epic proportions -- replete with characters so real I want to reach out and give some a comforting touch, shake the hands of some with gratitude for having known them (and knowing that others share my thoughts and convictions), slap the faces of others, and still others, grab by the shoulders and scream get a grip!!! -- I am awestruck by how many scenarios and schools of thought from Ayn Rand's book are running rampant in this real world in which we live now, right now, August 2009.

This is a difficult writing, in part because of the complexities of now. You see, the now is the sum of everything that has come before. Just as I am a product of everything I have experienced to this point, so is the world a product of every event that has occurred until this very moment. (I am reminded that my daughter, now an educational administrator, but in years prior, a social studies teacher, always had somewhere in her classroom, this directive: MAKE A CONNECTION. Daughter's position is that whether she was teaching geography, history or economics, the subject matter connects to each of us in some way. Even in our nowness we are connected to what has come before; hence, the complexity of it all.)

The complexities are plethoric shades of gray on a foundation of a few facts of black and white. And no, this is not another "race relations" writing. Unfortunately, many times topics with no seeming congruity, hinge on the black and white (or, as I prefer to say, the dark and the pale). God did not intend it so, and I believe that with all my heart and mind, but in centuries past a few folks made some bad choices, and mankind -- all of us -- pay for those choices in one way or another. We are descendants of either the oppressors or of the oppressed. More and more, we are the descendants of both. Take the current POTUS, for example. (Actually Mr. Obama, even though one of the darker nation, has the distinction of not having a darker nation parent who was a descendant of antebellum slaves and early 20th century Negroes.) So what does this matter? It matters thusly: as one continues reading (and I hope one does), it is imperative that one dispell any stereotypical notions of what people of the darker nation, particularly this writer, expects from the world in general. Yes, she is aware of the suffering of her ancestors at the hands of their oppressors, and she has first-hand experience with overt and covert forms of oppression and discrimination. Still, she is often thought to be more to the right than most in her conservative views. She likes to think of herself more as a switch-hitter; it realy does depend on the subject matter whether she goes left or right. Am I still writing about entitments? Of course.

to be continued.