WhatFinger


Government largesse gone awry

Food Stamp Fallout



One of my daughters describes me as a blunt-spoken, close-minded, ultra-conservative troglodyte; I describe her as a knee-jerk, bleeding-heart, liberal progressive. With levity instead of rancor, we enjoy debating hot topics. Recently, over cups of java, I saw that luminous gleam in her eye and knew we were about to join battle.
“Groups in large cities host parties, where they encourage invitees to sign up for food stamps,” she said. “What a boost to the economy that is, and, bless their hearts, youngsters in impoverished families won’t go to bed hungry!” “They’ll go to bed overfed,” I replied, “and become obese like their parents, who no longer even have to seek work, but can lounge in front of wide-screen plasma televisions, and, with nothing better to do, copulate and bring even more kids into the world who will get free food at school and at home.” “What a crude statement! You conservatives are societal Luddites who view any programs that benefit the under-privileged as a step backward.”

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I let her savor the triumphant moment as I pondered the words “programs that benefit,” and recalled a recent experience at the grocery store while standing in the checkout line behind my sparsely filled “non-food-stamp-patron” cart — one of the much smaller carts that stores now offer in the wake of skyrocketing food prices. Fanning herself with a deck of food stamp booklets, the lady in front of me had two large carts completely filled with everything from pork chops to soda pops to a carnival variety of Little Debbie snacks. She was so obese that walking while shopping was impossible, so she sat in an electric cart, and let her children manage the other carts. Her purchases would have kept my cupboard filled for months! She is a prime example of government largesse gone awry. Even though the lady appeared to be in her early thirties, she was only a few years away from major health problems. And her sedentary lifestyle will cause her health to deteriorate exponentially as her ingestion of calories far outstrips burning them. She needn’t worry. When the time comes for long hospital stays and state-of-the-art medical procedures, working folks like me will pick up the tab. She’ll return home, convalesce, supervised by health care workers at taxpayer expense, and eventually return to the grocery store to once again enrich Little Debbie. There is a depressing downside to this all-too-common scenario. More and more, productive people are being whacked by the taxman when payday rolls around, and many non-productive people will never know anything but a one-dimensional lifestyle, enslaved by bodies that they and the dole converted to anything but what God intended. Blind, deaf, and mute, Helen Keller once said, “Self-pity is our worst enemy….” If that great American could rise above self-pity, anyone can. Still, I wonder … does the lady at the grocery store pity her miserable state? I doubt it. Most likely she doesn’t even realize that she is a victim of food stamp fallout.

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Jimmy Reed -- Bio and Archives

Jimmy Reed is an Oxford, Mississippi resident, Ole Miss and Delta State University alumnus, Vietnam Era Army Veteran, former Mississippi Delta cotton farmer and ginner, author, and retired college teacher.

This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s latest book, entitled The Jaybird Tales.

Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)).


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