Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty
I was disabled by bad surgery and lost my career. No system that ostensibly should have helped, did. Denied. Denied. Denied. YEARS of adversarial, not default helpful, meetings and challenges and interviews. I saw people worse than me refused help. I saw real time as people who knew me for years or life, who respected me and my career choice helping others, decided I was a lazy mooch who wasn&#x27;t trying hard enough, was somehow responsible for my situation, and needed to &quot;take responsibility&quot; but nobody could describe WHAT that meant or HOW to do it. It was all so soul crushing and and literally ruined my life and future. I didn&#x27;t do it. It was done to me. But blame and dismissal is easier for people.<p>Contrast that with a former friend who had a similar medical issue in Europe. He wasn&#x27;t bankrupted by medical costs, had social support for basic living as he was treated and recovered long term, had social education which allowed him to go back to university and obtain useful skills for his new situation. He now has a thriving business and as full a life as anyone could expect. Because he had help and options when he needed them in the beginning. Having that help and those options also made it easier for him to hold into his relationships because he was able to stay IN life and move forward. People can only take so much loss.<p>Yeah I resent it. I resent being born here where I hear how amazing it is every day and how Europe is a socialist dystopia (I&#x27;ve lived there, the people telling me this have not and I&#x27;d happily fufill their &quot;get out of you don&#x27;t like it&quot; wishes if I could) and the usual middle American beliefs, but we don&#x27;t even have the most basic of social protections. I resent being blamed. I resent that even seeing this happen people still decided just what the Murican culture told them to decide about me because its easier to live with ones own fears that way. I resent having my life end in such a miserable and painful mess when I earned more and did what I was supposed to.<p>America has a real empathy problem. People won&#x27;t treat others as they wish to be treated when they are in need. Being poor is an infection and they avoid you. It&#x27;s not a need they reach out to solve. And being poor is very expensive. A society of individualists is no society at all.