Tag Archives: America

So yesterday I was listening to the radio on the way to work and heard a story that I thought was absolutely incredible. When I tuned in, they were accepting calls from people who had been homeless at one point, and were no longer on the street (how that topic managed to come up, I have no idea).

A woman named Carmen called in to tell her story, which was an incredible one. Years ago, she and her boyfriend were living in a small apartment. They were like a lot of other young couples, barely getting by until their landlord informed them that he had sold the property and they needed to leave. It was January in Boston, and she was pregnant with their first child, and they ended up with nowhere to go. She was too sick with her first pregnancy to work, and they couldn’t afford to move in to a new place. They spent two months homeless – taking turns sleeping on the trains, in parks, etc. And just to clarify, it was winter in Boston. It was not warm.

Eventually, they found a place, got jobs, and she had the baby.

They got married, and she ended up raising seven children. Today, she lives in the Raleigh area and works in social services. What impressed me so much about this story is that they did it all without government support. There was no WIC, food stamps, unemployment, nothing. They simply went out, worked hard, and did what they had to do – including sleeping on trains and in parks in the middle of a Boston winter. My favorite moment was when she explained that when money got tight, and there was $20 left over at the end of the month, she was ecstatic – just grateful that they had everything they needed.

How many people do we really think could accomplish that right now in America? I think we’ve become so programmed to think that we need assistance that we end up selling ourselves short. The great thing about this country is that we CAN do things to change our position in life. No, it may not always be comfortable, but self-sufficiency builds a strong person. The kind of person that makes America strong.

America is so much better than the current status quo. We are so much smarter and stronger than we let on – and it’s time for the government to quit pandering. It breaks my heart to see us fall to the low standards the government has set for us. I don’t believe their intentions were bad – as I’ve stated before, the sentiment behind liberalism is a nice one. Help people.

I just hope that they figure out that bailing people out doesn’t help them before we eliminate every Carmen we have left in our country.