Welfare and iPhones

So this has been weighing on me recently and I realized that I have an outlet for this sort of thing and today I'm exercising my right to use it!

Please forgive me while I rant.

Recently I've been seeing some things on the Internet and I would like to discuss them.   

These things hurt my heart.  They hurt my heart a lot. 

I understand that their is a lot of political tension revolving around the department of public welfare and that people are very passionate about their political points of view.  I am not saying that your view's are wrong.  But I do think these type of Internet posts are hurtful.

I know this because they are hurtful to me.

I am currently on medical assistance, one branch of the department of public welfare.  

I also have an iPhone.

I left my job due to personal reasons and I have been looking for another job.  In the mean time got sick and was hospitalized and had surgery.  Within the week that I was sick I acquired hundreds and thousands of medical bills that I could not pay.  I was not on Cobra at the time because it was way to expensive and I could not afford it.  I went on medical assistance this summer and I have been so thankful that a service like this exists.  

I know that some people would say "you're circumstance is different, you really needed it, you're not abusing the system."  The problem is, how well do we really know the situation of people that we happen to see at the grocery store with their food stamps and their iPhone.  We don't.  I also would currently qualify for food stamps.  I'm not getting them in part because of people who are helping me as well as a small amount of money I have coming in from a part time job.  But I could be that person, the person who is judged by others.  

The iPhone that I have was a family gift.  After a long a difficult chapter in our lives was finished we all got iPhones.  I don't feel that it's any one's business but the prove my point I will say that the monthly payments are a part of that gift that I am so grateful for.  

Another thing to consider with this is the need for telephone and Internet service today.  The access to Internet service is very helpful when going through the process of applying for welfare.  I have some friends who have iPhones and use them for everything.  They do not have cable, they use their phones to stream shows to watch.  They do not have a phone line, they use their iPhone.  They do not have Internet in their home.  They use their phone.  What if the person being judged has made the conscious decision to use their phone instead of other amenities in their home?  I, like many people I know do not have cable or a telephone line in my house.  

Another thing I've heard people do is criticism people who have a satellite dish on their section 8 house.  For one thing, having the dish doesn't mean they have cable.  I have a dish on my house. I do not have cable.  The dish was their from the people who lived here before me.  The Dish Network leaves those dishes on the home in case someone who lives there in the future wants Satellite cable.  It saves them from having to install another dish and line in the home.  

People on welfare are not lazy!  I can attest to this personally!  The application process that one must go through to get welfare is so large and complicated that this college educated woman had a hard time going through it.  In some ways I could see it as a system designed for the lazy to just quit because it is so complicated and only the ones who really need it would see it through to the end.  If I didn't really need it I never would have gone through all of that. 

One other thing I've heard people say is "we don't need a welfare system because we have God/the Church and they can provide everything we need."  I would just like to say that I was away at a conference when I got sick.  I was with one of my churches most gifted people who has had so much experience in praying for people and seeing them healed.  I was prayed for.  I was not healed.  I came home and had surgery 3 days later.  I don't know of any person or church that had enough extra money t pay these bills for me.  To me this does not mean that God does not exist or that he didn't want to heal me.  It did not change my faith, but it opened my eyes to the fact that God did provide for me.  He got me home safely, gave me doctors who could take care of me, he gave me medical attention that made me well, he gave me a way to minimize my bills to a number I could afford.  I was provided for.  Part of that provision came from the department of public welfare and for that I am extremely grateful.  

Finally now that I am in "the system" I can also see how easily people can get stuck here.  It is an overwhelming place to be.  I can see how easy it might be for someone to begin to rely on the system.  That might not be the best thing for them to do but it is not my job to judge them for it.  My job is to love them and support them and encourage them.  Being on medical assistance has been difficult for me.  If I get a job that does not provide benefits I could lose my assistance.  This is scary to me.  I would rather stay unemployed until I find a job with benefits because of this.  Being without benefits again could mean another hospitalization which would cost money that I DO NOT have.  

There's an old saying "Don't judge a man till you've walked a mile in his shoes."  How about we don't judge him at all.  

Every week at church we have a box designated for the poor that people can put money in. I've never herd of anyone putting money in that box and then wanting to following it to the person who receives it making sure they spend it the way they see fit.  Freely they have received so freely they give.  Yet for some reason we as people feel we have a right to judge others if we think they are making bad decisions, even if we don't know the story behind their situation.  

I apologize for the rant, all that to say, if you judge someone in the food store with food stamps and and iPhone, you're judging me...and that stings a bit.