Great post: "The day I bought steak with my food stamps"

[murielm99]

12. The humiliation is the hard part.

We never had to go on food stamps. But I can remember how tough it was when we were unemployed and had to ask for other types of assistance. It did not help that my husband was irresponsible and unable to manage money to begin with. I did not know that when we got married. He does better now. But we had quite a few hard years.

People looked down on us when we paid our bills late, had bounced checks and poor credit. Even after we found work, things were tough. It took several years to catch up.

I had to fight and scrap to get anything at all for my children. We closed the gaps, sent them music lessons, camps, and all the rest of it. They went to college and have done well. But I get it about dead end towns and hopeless lives. Many people simply stop struggling.

When I see crap articles on the internet about welfare mothers and welfare cheats, I remember those years. I wonder how some people think they are better than any of those poor people. Many of them are only a few paychecks or a couple of illnesses away from those things themselves.

People deserve to keep their pride, no matter how bad things get. Taking that is as bad as the poverty itself.