Fool Me Once

As far as politics are concerned, I consider myself independent in my opinions. I know all people have their own opinions about how things should be but we all know about opinions…everybody’s got one. I believe that people should work for what they want and not expect handouts from everyone else around. And don’t get me started on Obama. I didn’t vote for him. I don’t like the way he runs his domestic policies and I think he needs to get his head out of his ass. Okay, I’m done now.

Almost 10 years ago, I was pregnant with my first born child. I had a job but I was single and lived on my own. I made $7.50 an hour as a government employee. Several of my coworkers told me to go to the local DFACS office to inquire about getting help like WIC. I was turned down. Apparently being a 19 year old pregnant single woman making $7.50 an hour does not constitute a need for government assistance. I came to terms with the fact that I would have to do things on my own and I did.

Ten years later, I find myself going to the grocery store on Fridays during the day to do my weekly shopping (paying for it with my husband’s hard earned money, not the tax payers money) and there’s always a young woman or a young couple in front of me using their EBT card to buy their groceries. They usually have about two or three kids running around the store unruly. And then the moment comes that really pisses me off. I walk out into the parking lot to see these same people that just used their EBT card loading their endless groceries into their Chevrolet Tahoe or Nissan Pathfinder. Sometimes I want to follow them home so I can see exactly how big their homes are.

And then there are the people that capitalize on bad situations that really irritate the crap out of me. Without being too specific, I’m talking about people that use a sob story constantly. “We don’t have any money and my kids aren’t going to have anything for Christmas” or “I don’t know where my next tank of gas is going to come from”. I’ve been a victim of that sob story many times and have given the benefit of the doubt. Then when I find out that people gave thousands of dollars worth of toys to the family for Christmas and everybody from point A to point B gave $20 for gas, I just don’t know what to think. Me personally, I don’t get what I can’t afford. I don’t have an eight passenger SUV to haul my children all over creation and I don’t stay on the road.

Some people do actually need assistance at some point in their lives but what I don’t understand is why some of the same people constantly need help. It seems to me they would find the straw that’s breaking the camel’s back and stop. As President Bush would say, “Fool me once, shame on you…You fool me, you can’t get fooled again.”