I must have as many as 12 drafts on this topic, yet I’m still pretty sure that I’ll miss something – or just not get my point across at all in this post. A follow up may be needed. We’ll see.

How many of you have read comments like [the topic], heard your neighbor talking about food stamp moochers, or have even made the same comments yourself?

I really feel like people who make such comments regarding the way that others are feeding their children are ignorant. So if you’re that person who is constantly walking around complaining that some parent, somewhere is receiving food assistance to feed their young children – then yes, that means YOU. You cannot possibly know what someone else’s situation is like unless you are there and are involved. How do you know that the car she drove off in isn’t being borrowed? It is not possible that the car could have been paid for in full? Logical thinking comes into play here: That person could have just lost his/her job and qualified for food stamps. You’re complaining about YOUR tax dollars. What about the tax dollars that they paid into the system all those years? What about those who have worked hard all their life, only to hit a bump in the road and have to depend on food assistance until they can get back onto their feet?

NEWS FLASH!!! When you lose your job, your obligations/responsibilities/bills do not stop.

Now, before you start talking about what they should sell or purge themselves of, think, and don’t say a word.

Picture This:

You have a job, get a mortgage, a car note, lose your job, stop making your car payments, stop paying your mortgage foreclosure – all so that you can have temporary relief from your problems. In reality, what you’re doing is digging yourself into a deeper, damper hole.

When unfortunate situations arise, you need to maintain all that you can. If you lose your car or your home, your credit will be nonexistent and once you get back on your feet, you won’t even be able to get a decent care note from a reputable dealership. We’ll see you at the local “Buy Here Pay Here” car lot applying for a car loan at an unreasonable 24% interest rate on an inflated 10-year-old car with more miles than you’d care to think about. (Probably like the bitter lady in the check out line behind you.)

Get into another home? Not so easily. Just join the ranks; the overwhelmingly high number of Americans who are paying rent at outrages rates – many not being about to save up the money for a decent down payment on a home. And if you happen to save enough to pursue a purchase, well, good luck on finder a lender with that previous foreclosure on your record.

Do NOT ruin your credit because you’ve been made to feel ashamed and don’t want to apply for the assistance that you need. If you can get assistance from the system that you have paid into for all those years while you get back on your feet – do it. Forget the person in the checkout line behind you making the snide comments about the way you are feeding your family. After your groceries are bagged, go ahead and get into the car that you haven’t let go back to the dealership. Leave with your head held high, knowing that this hiccup is temporary – you’re doing what you need to do to maintain stable living for your family. Be okay with knowing that your situation is temporary, and unlike the bitter lady behind you in the checkout line, you have a decent home to go to.

So many people are worried about what’s in their neighbors’ pockets.

“The only reason you should ever look into your neighbor’s cup is to make sure that they have enough.”

The belief that food stamp recipients are lazy moochers just looking for the next handout is simply not true… That rhetoric is old and outdated, and has been proven wrong. Most food stamp recipients are children or elderly. Many are disabled. Many have a job, but it doesn’t cover the basic necessities.

Grab some facts:

There are decent, hard-working people who have used food stamps – and I don’t believe that they should feel inferior for doing so. No child should be hungry. No child, anywhere should go without…especially here in the States.

So much to say, so little dignity?

I have an aunt that made the comment “If I see one more person pay for their food with a food stamp card, and then drive off in a better car than mine, I’m going to barf…” ßWell, you’d better grab a bag because it is going to happen.

I’ll never forget that comment. Mainly because I expected so much more from her. In my mind, she was so much better than that. I seriously wanted to give her a mouthful. A mouthful of “as a matter of fact(s)”. A mouthful of “stay in YOUR place”… A mouthful of “Excuse, me – do you NOT remember where YOU came from(s)”…

Sometimes you have to remind a person that they need not stray too far away from the reality of their own situation. How did you feel when you were old enough for your mother to open up to you and tell you about all the times that she went hungry so that you and your siblings could have enough? Today’s food stamp program helps with situations like that – and not everyone abuses the system – so cut the crap.

It is my belief that many people like my aunt are truly bitter. They look at their lives, all the time they’ve wasted, all the failures, marriages, and flat-out stupid decisions – and putting their tongue on the lives of others make them feel good. Feel like someone. Feel like SomeTHING; definitely nothing of true worth but they are willing to do and say anything for temporary relief from their own miserable, pile of poo lives. I guess I understand. I don’t agree. But I understand.

I personally know people who work their booties off, and still barely meet the needs of the family – and therefore qualify for food stamps.

If people spent more time managing their wallets, instead of the wallets of others, then maybe they’d have a happier, more stable life.