Food stamps need to be handled like the WIC program. You can only get certain items which are healthy and no change given.

Also, using unemployment is not a bad thing between jobs, But I know SEVERAL folks that will make it a point to stay on it AS LONG as they can. Instead of looking for another good paying job, they will adjust their lifestyle to live on less, ya know that "unenjoyment" money.

I think many people don't "Be all they can be" they just "be all they have to be to get by".

Never confuse grandstanding or pride with doing the right thing.

We have the perfect example really close by. People choose the homeless option in Seattle. Even if they have a place to go. Pretty all the free shit in Seattle encourages the problem to grow. The leaders have to be blind, ignorant or purposeful to not see this.

Fair enough.

Alternately, a homeless person may be stubborn about not taking handouts, and choose to live on the street.

There's no harm in accepting private or public help, provided the person is genuinely trying and not abusing the generosity. Everyone has a different situation, cross to bear, talents, and economic worth. In a screwed up world where entertainers are royalty and hard working common folks live month-to-month, sometimes life deals everyone a financial hardship.

I have issues with folks who abuse it or make it a lifestyle.

Bottom line.

I grew up in a similar household, single mom, 3 kids. She worked like a slave, sometimes 2 or 3 jobs. Refused any public assistance. Yes, I learned a good work ethic.

However, let me pose this thought.

My mom required a 2 pack/day smoking and heavy coffee drinking habit to function. In her 50's she could barely walk up a few flights of stairs due to exhaustion, stress, and breathing problems. Died before she hit 60. Looking back, she lost years of her life and years of parenting which might have been improved had she been willing to take some public assistance. Dunno, but worth considering. Maybe if she worked 1 job and took some aid, she'd have lived a longer better life.

Sadly, she was a good person with good values and thus poor and abused by the system that values throwing a ball through a hoop, and not being a good parent and person.

Pride goeth before the fall. Pride does not require boasting.

It's rare that I agree with leadcounsel so wholeheartedly. I really believe that this whole thing is a "hate the game, not the player" situation.

If the rules/programs are so easily abused, we should overhaul them. (I'm not contesting they aren't.)

We often talk about how hard it was growing up, and she always says that the hard work, long hours, and endless grind was all worth it once she saw what type of work ethic and drive we all had.

My Mom was born with a work ethic that many couldn't hang with. 38 years at Albertsons, retired with a full pension four years ago, sold our childhood house and bought a condo with cash in Des Moines on the water. She has no bills outside of the daily living expenses, but chose to start up a cleaning business, and kayaks in her free time just to keep busy. She is a firm believer that if she just sat on her ass as a retiree, her life would end sooner by doing nothing than being active. She's now 62, loving life, and likes to shoplift from my garden.

That's awesome.

She looks happy, and that's awesome.

Flip side of the coin in my world. Mom was single with 3 kids and a deadbeat dad who left. She had to work 2-3 jobs for survival b/c she wouldn't take help. As a result, my older siblings had no parent and did not see/appreciate her hard work ethic. All they saw is no parent, no guidance, etc. Life did not turn out well for them probably due to no parental guidance. For all her hard work, she died at 59 and her kids had it very hard anyway. So, that's the other danger of such an approach. I got pretty lucky, and probably had it less-hard than my siblings. But as I said, everyone needs help at some point.

Looking back, I really wish she would have taken some aid/help, if it had given her more time to parent, ease her heavy burden, and give her some happiness and more years with us. Instead, we watched her die a pretty awful death too young.