Facebook and stuff

We get inundated with the apps and the polls from Facebook. Hey, it a time filler; I am guilty as the next person and they can sometimes be fun. But there is one that has just stuck in my craw and I can't loosen it. It is the drug testing/welfare check, food stamp one. When I was a child we lived in a small town town called St. Augustine and on occasion we would have a gentleman or two show up at our doorstop called a hobo, the term of the day. They were hungry and they needed a meal. My Dad, a child of the Great Depression, would invite them in and give them a good meal and some good conversation. No judgement, no expectation; it was what it was. Many years later I had a friend whose husband had left her and she had a young daughter to support and this friend had the opportunity to better herself but for two years she would have to go the food stamp route and she wasn't sure she wanted to shame herself that way. I told her there was no shame; she was making a life for her little family and eventually she would pay pay back the system. She did in spades. Flash forward to a few years and while my eldest son was in middle school he had a friend who could no longer charge his lunches. He came from a proud family who was going through a "spot" so he didn't tell his family what was going on through school. When Liam told me what was going on I didn't say much: I made an extra sandwich, a few extra treats and some extra money for milk. It took very little on my part and I am not tooting my own horn. It lasted only a short time until they landed on their feet.

So, what I guess what I am saying is this; yes, many people abuse the system but there are also many who are quiet and already frustrated and embarrassed about what life has thrown them. Shut you your mouth because who really knows how far you are from their circumstances and just help them. No judgement. Don't ask them to go through something that would ding your spirit. Yes, ten people to that two or three that are helped might abuse the system but you can lay your head on your pillow at night and think " I helped someone."