My Frustration: A *long* thread
Today was "Take My Mom Grocery Shopping" day. I often joke about this day because my mom is a character, and she does silly things like try to run people down with the motorized scooter thing.
Today was "Take My Mom Grocery Shopping" day. I often joke about this day because my mom is a character, and she does silly things like try to run people down with the motorized scooter thing.
But it is a day of frustration for me, also, every month. And not because my mom yells "Oh, go grab me my toilet wipes!" from one end of the crowded aisle to another. If I have to deal with it, so do those other shoppers.
My frustration comes from watching my mother try to shop with dignity. Here is a woman who has been on the lower rung of the working class her entire life, doing the poorest-paying service jobs we all benefit from.
You want a nice dinner out? That requires a server. You want a stiff drink at the end of a hard week? You need a bartender. You want groceries? You need a cashier. She was all of those things.
Except, of course, for the years she had a small kid (that would be me) and stayed at home - you know, that role the GOP is sure all women are born for and LOVE to play, despite the lack of pay or benefits and whatnot.
What about my dad, you ask? Another working-class Joe, he was injured doing under-the-table work. Ended up in constant pain, developed clinical depression, committed suicide-by-alcohol at the age of 52.
My mom has health issues herself, a side-effect of always hovering around the poverty level - a lifetime of poor diet, smoking, and stress, takes its toll. So yes, she gets healthcare from the government.
And she gets food stamps, not many, and some of that money she paid into Social Security her entire life is coming back to her, but not much. So once a month I take her shopping.
She stocks up the things that can get her through the month. And yes, some of it is crap. And if anyone wants to fight me on this, then tell me - does your parent make a meal out of a cup of coffee and a pop tart? Because mine does.
She lives alone. She has one person to feed. It is cheaper and easier for her to buy crap and frozen dinners than to try to stock up on fresh foods. Pot pies are $1. Frozen burritos are 89 cents.
I am appreciative of what she gets, but I also know she worked for it. At jobs wealthy people scoff at. With no time off or cushy vacations or even sick leave. Her whole life, she worked.
And now I am hearing GOP leaders talk about people wanting "handouts." Elderly people. My mom. They justify cuts to programs by calling them "entitlements" as if they are something people demand but don't deserve.
A whole class of people, the class to which my mother belongs, are bothersome to the wealthy because they don't generate profit for them. Unless, of course, the paltry amount on which they survive is made even smaller.
So my mom, grocery list written in a shaky hand, drives her scooter around the grocery store, trying to shop with dignity. I see her eyeing meat that's not on sale, but she scoots on by.
I personally think she deserves better. So does that guy that lives under the old highway bridge. And the kids I work with, the ones who live in a tent? They do, too.
And that brings us to the the crux of our problem. How are we okay with this? How can we let people, human beings, live without dignity? What does that say about us? Nothing good. Anyway, long-ass thread over.
