So Disappointed

[Bronwen]

I'm sure some of you have seen this pic floating around fb. I can't seem to attach it to this post using my phone but it says something along the lines of, 'If you can afford cigarettes, booze, drugs etc hen you don't need welfare or food stamps'.... It just makes me so mad I thought I'd share my thoughts.

I don't know if it's just everyone following the leader agreeing with everyone else, or if most people actually think this way.

I was raised to treat everyone with kindness and respect and compassion. I find this photo to be hateful and just plain ignorant. A lot of people on social assistance are down in their luck and if we judge them and put them down and slander them I don't see it helping their situation.. Instead of hiding behind a computer screen writing 'Amen!' why don't we get involved and reach out to those in need and going through a hard time.

A lot of people on social assistance are only on it for a short time to help them through a rough patch. Others are single mothers who need a hand and probably still don't get enough help. Yes, some people on assistance are on drugs or smoke but a lot of these people had a crap hand dealt to them from the get go and instead of being sh*t on they need people who care and can offer real constructive help.

I am so saddened by the mindset of people; so quick to judge but really don't care to help.

End of rant. Maybe I dug myself into a hole here; I can see a lot of people disagreeing with me lol.

[frugalmom]

Sorry but I don't agree. If you can support these habits then your should not qualify for welfare. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion though.

[saveadollardiva]

I am sorry as well but i to disagree. When your being assisted by the government in regards to income to help you get by than you should be using that money to help you get buy. As in food, shelter, transportation etc, not on things that are first off not good for you, and second are to expensive to buy. I am a tax payer just like everyone else. That is OUR money we are giving people to make sure they have enough to get buy on. And when people use it foolishly it is disappointing. I wish they did it with debit cards instead of cheques. So they could see what people are buying.

[lghend]

As a divorced mother not receiving child support (years ago), I can agree with you. I was working part time and needed help until I found a full time job. I worked my way up and became totally self sufficient. On the other hand, with my job, I see firsthand the abuse of the system. I believe that many of us have had a bad time, some even horrific. At some point though, as an adult, you HAVE to deal with the past and move on. You can't play the victim card for the rest of your life. I see multiple generations on the system, abusing pills, drugs, alcohol with no motivation to change their situation. I have a hard time finding compassion for those people.

[JennyFromTheRock]

I strongly feel that people on welfare should be drug tested. I think if you can afford to smoke, drink or do drugs you shouldn't be entitled to welfare. I also feel they should be drug tested to ensure that they are actually taking prescription medications that are prescribed to them, as I know for a fact that many go to the doctor with fake illnesses to get narcotic drugs that they then sell for a profit. I am also a huge supporter of "work for your welfare" for people who have been on long term because "they can't find jobs". there are families back home where whole generations of people have been on welfare, where your 18th birthday is a "right of passage" to get your very own welfare cheque. Its very sad that people choose to live that way.

Back when I was growing up, I was very middle class, when highschool came around, and we had to buy our own text books, my parents would have to invest a huge amount into them, often buying them second hand because they were so expensive. The children of welfare parents would always have brand new text books, and in some cases a student would be in grade 10, with a sibling a year younger but rather than give those books to the sibling for the next year, they would sell them for a profit and welfare would provide yet annother set of costly texts books to the sibling.

I have a lot to say about welfare and how I feel about it. I think rent should be given directly to the landlord from welfare rather then to the client. My dad had a rental property a few years back and rented to it a welfare recipient. He never got his rent on time and when he did it was only a part of it. She ended up owing so much to my dad from money she spend that was given to her for rent she had to work it off in maintenance to my dad.

I'm all for food stamps or giving out foods like rice, pasta beans and vegetables, clothes vouchers, and paying their bills....... but if they want cash, they should get a job. In a life style where their rent is paid, food is given to them and clothes are put on their back they don't need money. If they have so much time on their hands that they need "spending money" they have time to get a job. We pay $60,000 in taxes a year, enough to support 3 families on welfare meanwhile we still have to mow our own lawn.

I should point out I'm directing this at people who are capiable of working but CHOOSE not to, not people who are on because of illness or other reasons.

[Giddymonkey]

I'm going to respectfully disagree too. I know there are lots of people who have had harder lives than most, but there comes a point when you need to put on your big boy (or girl) pants and grow up. There are so many services out there aimed to help people who are on social assistance, and those who are on it for a short time are the ones who find it and move on to a better life. Those who can't be bothered to do anything to help themselves and expect hand-outs so they can sit around smoking, playing video games, doing drugs, or anything else that isn't contributing to society, are exactly the kind of people this FB picture is directed to, not the down-on-your-luck short-term recipient.

I went to school with a girl whose family was on welfare. She always said how her family had to go to food banks, and they didn't have money for clothes so they had to get used clothes from the church, and then her dad moved out because her parents would get more welfare money if they didn't live together. It was a sad house for her to grow up in and I felt really bad for her. What I couldn't understand is when I went over to their house, there was always cases of coke stacked in the kitchen and cartons of cigarettes on the counter. How can you not put food and clothing for your children over cigarettes and pop? 10 years old and I was already jaded about the welfare system.

[Bronwen]

I guess I'm just upset too because people like yourself at that point in time when you were on assistance unfortunately get clumped in with the bad stereotype and not everyone on assistance is like that. In fact more people on assistance need it and are not abusing it. It's meant to be temporary to help you out. The people abusing it are the minority.

[Abbey B.]

to be honest & with all do respect, from my own experiences it's the majority that do abuse it. bottom line, nothing is going to change until the government steps up & changes it. i'm sure that there are definately people out there that do need "temporary" assistance & i'm all for that but there are way too many people out there abusing the system because they can.

[JennyFromTheRock]

I guess I'm just upset too because people like yourself at that point in time when you were on assistance unfortunately get clumped in with the bad stereotype and not everyone on assistance is like that. In fact more people on assistance need it and are not abusing it. It's meant to be temporary to help you out. The people abusing it are the minority.

You are so wrong. Its the other way around, the MAJORITY of people are abusing it.

[tjthemanto]

I guess I'm just upset too because people like yourself at that point in time when you were on assistance unfortunately get clumped in with the bad stereotype and not everyone on assistance is like that. In fact more people on assistance need it and are not abusing it. It's meant to be temporary to help you out. The people abusing it are the minority.

Yup , very few people are abusing it.

I woudn't be surprised if the number of alcoholics , drug addicts , smokers in the general non welfare population is the same as the number of people with those addictions in the welfare population.

But atleast they are doing it with their money , and not with tax payers money.

Most people on welfare are actually clean and honest people , they have just fallen on hard times and are trying hard to get out of it , contrary to popular belief and judgement.

some of The rich , the politicians etc are actually swindling the tax payers money and abusing the system more than these welfare people.

Checkout the off shore secret bank accounts of some of these rich people in tax heavens like Cayman Islands..this Is money on which taxes should have been paid in Canada , but never was.

[Joe_]

I'm sure some of you have seen this pic floating around fb. I can't seem to attach it to this post using my phone but it says something along the lines of, 'If you can afford cigarettes, booze, drugs etc hen you don't need welfare or food stamps'.... It just makes me so mad I thought I'd share my thoughts.

I don't know if it's just everyone following the leader agreeing with everyone else, or if most people actually think this way.

I was raised to treat everyone with kindness and respect and compassion. I find this photo to be hateful and just plain ignorant. A lot of people on social assistance are down in their luck and if we judge them and put them down and slander them I don't see it helping their situation.. Instead of hiding behind a computer screen writing 'Amen!' why don't we get involved and reach out to those in need and going through a hard time.

A lot of people on social assistance are only on it for a short time to help them through a rough patch. Others are single mothers who need a hand and probably still don't get enough help. Yes, some people on assistance are on drugs or smoke but a lot of these people had a crap hand dealt to them from the get go and instead of being sh*t on they need people who care and can offer real constructive help.

I am so saddened by the mindset of people; so quick to judge but really don't care to help.

End of rant. Maybe I dug myself into a hole here; I can see a lot of people disagreeing with me lol.

Thank you so much for this...it is so easy for people to find fault in others.

I understand people can be frustrated with the decisions and behaviours other people engage in, but unless we know the entire history of the person collecting social assistance, we shouldn't judge.

In the U.S.A, 25% of all women and 15% of all men were sexually abused as children - and many of them are never able to get professional help to deal with what happened to them. Some never even acknowledge the abuse they endured.....I guess they (and many other people who have lived through many other things) self-medicate with whatever is closest to them.

Judging their coping strategies without offering an alternative doesn't really help anyone.

[JennyFromTheRock]

Thank you so much for this...it is so easy for people to find fault in others.

I understand people can be frustrated with the decisions and behaviours other people engage in, but unless we know the entire history of the person collecting social assistance, we shouldn't judge.

In the U.S.A, 25% of all women and 15% of all men were sexually abused as children - and many of them are never able to get professional help to deal with what happened to them. Some never even acknowledge the abuse they endured.....I guess they (and many other people who have lived through many other things) self-medicate with whatever is closest to them.

Judging their coping strategies without offering an alternative doesn't really help anyone.

Please don't associate being sexually assaulted with being on welfare.

[Bronwen]

I'm all for food stamps or giving out foods like rice, pasta beans and vegetables, clothes vouchers, and paying their bills....... but if they want cash, they should get a job. In a life style where their rent is paid, food is given to them and clothes are put on their back they don't need money. If they have so much time on their hands that they need "spending money" they have time to get a job. We pay $60,000 in taxes a year, enough to support 3 families on welfare meanwhile we still have to mow our own lawn.

The thing is people make these comments yet are so ignorant (in the truest sense of the word, meaning uninformed).

I myself have been on assistance years ago when I was going through a rough time. I spent this money on rent (lived with MIL) and food. I was luckily only on it for a few months because I was able to get help from DH's family and I found a job. So I know how much they give a single person and do you know how much that is? Probably not if you're paying $60, 000 a year in taxes yikes! You get $480 a month. I have heard some people get up to $580. This does NOT pay your rent and no they do not cover your rent for you. They do not give you food stamps (as far as I know this is an American thing, maybe it's different in other provinces I live in Ontario) , and you're allowed to visit the food bank once a MONTH. Again, not sure the rules in other provinces but this is the case where I live. So people are supposed to pay rent and bills and buy food with $480 a month yet rent even with room mates is usually that price alone.

Maybe the reason parents sold their kids' textbooks and accepted new ones is to pay for food and clothes for their kids. Do you accept a tax break on things you're eligible for? Do you hand in receipts to get money back? Why? Because you're entitled to. If it's something they offer, and they can make a bit of money back to send their kids to school with new shoes I personally don't see any harm in it.

When you say, 'If they want cash, get a job' you are forgetting about those who are slow (yes sadly some slow people have family who leave them to fend for themselves and I have seen so many people struggling and on welfare because of this), have abused drugs so are dealing with mental issues due to that, or had a rough past and have criminal records therefor are turned down for jobs. I know that a lot of Ontario Works offices require you to be actively seeking jobs and help you apply and need to see proof. This is helpful for them in some ways, especially those who have never been taught how to write up a resume, etc. It's hard to find a job for someone without these issues, at least where I live it is!

I guess I would just like to see some compassion rather than slander. In the end, if you really want something done about the situation, you should volunteer some way to try and help the people who do abuse the system. Help people kick their bad addictions and show them support and a new way of living rather than calling them low lives (in not so many words) because that's really not going to help at all.

ETA: not picking on you just kind of ended up using your post to reply

[Bronwen]

So just because some people (until I see stats I will believe the majority on it are not abusing it, sorry) abuse it, we should screw those who need it out of getting any help at all?

[Bronwen]

Jenny from the rock he wasn't attacking sexually abused people in any way, he was giving an example. In MANY instances throughout life, people use a crutch to get through it or to drown their depression or whatever it is that is ailing them. Whether it be sexual or physical abuse, absent parents, neglect, and relationships, you name it.