Stuff

Because of my impending divorce and a house that won't sell and an unemployed ex-husband, I'm struggling financially... badly... REALLY badly. Badly enough that I had to suck it up and take my girls and I down to Social Services and sign up for food stamps. I hated EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of it. I was embarrassed and ashamed and just... I hated it. But I need to feed my girls... so it had to be done.So the other day I was on a blog (I don't think it was anyone in this circle of bloggers) and the woman was ranting about someone in the grocery store line checking out with her items and one of the items was a pack of gum, and she had the NERVE to pay for that with her food stamps. She went on and on and her commenters went on and on about how horrible that was, and that that was what the whole problem with the welfare system is and on and on.And quite honestly, a few years ago I might have joined in - perhaps not quite so vehemently, but I would have at least been nodding my head.But let me tell you a possibility. MAYBE the lady was just like me. Maybe she had two daughters that she LOVED SO MUCH, and maybe she was SO TIRED of having to say "no, we can't afford that" to everything her daughters asked for. And I bet they weren't greedy girls, just normal kids who would like a new toy now and then. But she just didn't have the money to do it. And maybe her girls think gum is a pretty freaking cool treat. And maybe she saw that gum, and thought "Oh WOW! I can finally get them one thing... I can say yes to something. They are going to be SO EXCITED." And so she bought the $1.19 pack of gum, with her foodstamps.Maybe.. just maybe... we have NO right to judge ANYONE because we NEVER know the whole story, do we?