beholder

Some people’s lack of vision and imagination I find simply astounding. I’ve always been amazed when I hear bigoted blanket statements like “people on welfare are just lazy”, or when confronted with a panhandler at the end of a freeway off ramp, holding a sign saying, “Hungry Vet, will work for food”, they grumble, “why don’t these people just get a job?”

It used to just make me angry, since I believe that most people don’t want to live on the street, and I’m sure that if given a choice, would have a job. Then I started to wonder why anyone would hold the delusion in the first place, that these people could just go “get a job”. Then I realized these are the same people who say to me, “Why don’t you do a soap opera? You’d be perfect!” as if all acting jobs are so easily come by and it’s been my choice to do so little work. Do they expect me to walk onto the General Hospital set and demand they add me to the cast? The problem is not only their limited experience on the logistics of the entertainment business, but their limited imagination as well. (Hell, I’d love just an audition for a soap!)

Most people (not all!), who come from money, and a wealthy family, or who have been lucky enough to never see their parents struggle working three jobs, or were blessed enough to land a great job that’s in no danger of disappearing, think anyone who wants a job can just ‘go get one’ because they’ve never had a problem with finding work, or work that pays enough to make ends meet.

Lucky them.

Most have also never, ever gone without money, or had their children go without medical care, food or shelter. They’ve never known the humiliation of applying for unemployment, or using food stamps at the grocery store, or had anyone close to them suffer through such stressful indignities. These people have no clue what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck, much less be over 40 and have no retirement whatsoever because they’re barely managing to pay the rent.

Nor have they ever known the self worth and pride that comes from at last landing a job when you’ve had none. From paying your own way and getting off of welfare. People who come from wealth have always had a safety net. The option of ending up on the street has never been nor will ever be a possibility for them. Daddy or whomever, can always bail them out when the going gets tough, just like our selected president! Even if they are too stoned to take a physical for the Nation Guard, or go AWOL during wartime, or even run a company into the ground. If Daddy has enough money to buy himself some power, and Junior’s drug habit threatens to scandalize the family, they even get a new driver’s license and the old record goes under court seal. How nice!

The lazy people I know all have a lot of money. Some have trust funds they live off of. They also have no imagination. They sit at home, usually only having the energy to call their dealer, roll another joint, or play non-stop Nintendo. They have no idea what the majority of the world struggles through day after day, nor do they care. Perhaps that's why they insist no one wants to work. They certainly don't, and are very happy living off of mostly their parent's money.

I don’t know any lazy poor people. The friends I have who are unemployed are struggling, and hustling their asses off trying to keep the rent up to date. Some spend all day sending out resumes, some are trying to start their own business so they won’t be subjected to another company downsizing, or moving out of state. These are not lazy people. In fact, I am in awe of their energy and perseverance.

I don’t personally know anyone who lives on the street, and while some may choose to be there, I’d guess most would rather be somewhere else. I don’t think they like begging, living without plumbing, or a warm, soft, safe bed. I also imagine things had to get pretty horrid for them to end up where they are, and I pray I am never ever in those circumstances. I wish no one was.

The view you have, all depends on your perspective, or your depth of imagination. Experience can only help. Some people suffer the roads they travel through in life, some observe, while others are blessed with ease and bliss. Some people learn from their experience, but not all. Some don’t want to see any view outside their comfort zone.

Some, like Bill Clinton, learned from their single mother’s struggle of working several jobs just to give them shelter, and a safe haven so they could get through school. Even managing to become Rhodes Scholars, and dedicating their lives to the betterment of their fellow human beings. Mr. Clinton, though retired, continues to work for the betterment of all, writing amazing essays on the questions facing humanity:
“The answer depends upon whether wealthy nations spread the benefits and reduce the burdens of the modern world, on whether poor nations enact the changes necessary to make progress possible, and on whether we all can develop a level of consciousness high enough to understand our obligations and responsibilities to each other.”

While others, like our current selected executive in chief, (whom you could never imagine reading or understanding the above excerpt, much less penning it), never knowing anything other than wealth and privilege, not only manage to circumvent the Constitution, disenfranchise the entire nation, shame the highest court in the land by encouraging their illegal involvement in the appointment of the presidency, but also keep insisting the only way to stimulate the once burgeoning economy that is now rapidly crashing further into record deficits thanks to tax cuts for the rich, defense spending, a science-fiction missile shield, and a never-ending war on ‘terra’, is to give people and corporations who aren’t investing the millions of dollars they already have, even more millions of dollars to continue to not invest, instead of giving money to those who live paycheck to paycheck who have no other choice but to spend the money. And he thought ENRON was the shining example of how to run SOCIAL SECURITY!

I know there are lemons everywhere, I just wonder how you make lemonade with such a rotten tree?