I do. I’m sure you do too. So I headed out to take advantage of the tax free weekend, like a dummy.
I have both of my little guys going off to school this year which means double supply list. Man, do kindergarteners need a ton of crap!!! I am not sure why I picked Saturday middle of the day to go, I just went. Stores were crazy, bins were bare, people as usual were ridiculous. I am on the wagon when it comes to smoking so I whole-heartedly feel I deserve a large congratulatory bouquet of flowers (like those little tiny girls in the Olympics that keep kicking gymnastic butt) for not landing in jail for slapping 78% of the store. Checkout people were excluded today, they are way underpaid.
I get coupons. I love them and use them a lot. Got some free pens, made money on some crayons, and kinda get high off it. What I do not understand is the people who have a cart full of school supplies that make it look like this is the last time school supplies will ever be sold. I am just nosey enough that I felt like asking today. Surprised?
The adorable woman (could have been Kelly Ripa’s stunt double) in front of me had a ton of stuff, like 30 composition books. So I said, being lighthearted and friendly “wow, you will never want for a place to write”. She was exhausted and kindly replied with a smile “yeah, this time of year is a pinch. I have eight children”. Holy Crap!!! She gets a high five, on the side, way down low without the you’re too slow! Then she realized she left her wallet in her other car and couldn’t even write a check (no ID) so she checked out and had to put things on hold so she could run back across town and comeback to get her stuff. I wanted to hug her. She was ok with it tho, packed up the three kids with her and apologized to the checker five more times. Poor thing.
WARNING!!! From this point on this becomes a charity rant so if you are easily offended please stop reading.
The person behind me had a cart full of colored pencils. Had to been every single one on the shelf. Like 500. At $.50 each. So I ask the smiley older couple if they were just big fans or were they donating to charity. They were very happy to tell me the stats of their organization, how great it felt to give, how they do it every year, how my kids were the same age as their grandkids, and so on. Forever. So I start thinking… what if I needed colored pencils? Thank goodness I didn’t, they had every one. But really, what if? I would have to spend the gas to come another day or go to a different store because all of the underprivileged children were getting theirs for free.
Easy now. I do quite a bit of charity work throughout the year and raise money for some organizations very dear to me. I now know why these two were hoarding school supplies, it feels good to give. We have also been the recipients of charity. When my son was diagnosed with Leukemia the “help” just swoops in and lands on your face. Not the “help” you would imagine (like your friends) but the kind who are perfect strangers and hold vigil next to your bed ready to throw Target gift cards and circus tickets at you. I declined much of it thinking surely there is a family that needs it more than we did. In hind-sight even with our wonderful health insurance my hubbs works so hard for, it did put a strain on us. We are, at the relentless insistence of the organization, going to let my son fulfill his dreams through Make-a-Wish. As a reach around we donate to them every year. We are thankful and proud.
But I often think who gets to decide who really gets this other stuff? My husband spent the day helping out Habitat for Humanity and when the soon to be homeowners showed up they did so in an older but totally suped up Cadillac Escalade. Hmmm… they qualify for a free home and still can afford to gas that sucker up?! Doesn’t really sit right with me. I heard a story from a friend a while back about a woman she worked with, single mother of three, who uses the local Crisis Nursery as a weekend pass so she can get a break. You know, drop the kids off after work on Friday, get your toes done, go on a date, sleep in, go shopping, and pick them up on Sunday for church. That does not sound like a crisis. This one in particular really chapped my ass. I had just donated a large amout of cloth diapers, hand-made burp clothes and unused bottles to this exact charity. I thought they were going to help someone’s child who was in danger. Someone desperate with nowhere else to turn. Romantic aren’t I? Well it was a little bit of a shock. Don’t even get me started on the people who soak up government daycare assistance and live off unemployment so they can do nothing all day. I could actually go on all day. I am not beating on the people who actually need assistance, but how can you tell one from the other?
I have seen down on your luck and I am the kind of person to hand the guy at the stop light a sandwich instead of a dollar. I know I am okay for now and if I ever needed to I would ask for help. That is, after all, one of the reasons why I pay all these taxes, right?!
This has the potential to go way off track (food stamps, WIC, free lunches, the ER…) so I will stop it now with this question: Are you thinking when you are helping or just handing crap over for the tax write-off?
I am not anti-charity, I just am pleading with you out there to be an educated giver and not a cash-cow. There are people who ride the system, free loading at every turn. Thieves who have perfected their craft. So when those of us who play by the rules need medical care, social security/disability, tuition assistance (or colored pencils for goodness sake!) it is already used up or unavailable. By all means if you need charitable assistance, take it! But those of you that are stealing through the kindness of strangers know who you are.
I think I’m done. And I feel waaay better.
Thanks.
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