So, I decided to go into Goodwill this afternoon to kill a little time before work. You can usually find something good there; a cool t-shirt, a gag gift, and electronic football game... Today, I was just looking. As I wandered through the racks of old-person or basement smelling clothes, I noticed something I wasn't prepared to see. I've seen bathing suits, which is a little creepy. I've seen underwear which is usually still packaged so it's not creepy. But today, today I saw lingerie. Now seriously, lingerie? People don't wear those things to sleep in. They put them on and seduce their significant other and then they end up on the floor. That my friends, crosses the line. I'll admit that even hotel beds creep me out, because you KNOW they aren't the cleanest. I can almost over look someone else's pajamas. But LINGERIE!!! I'm sorry, I can't over look that. There are just some things you don't or shouldn't donate to Goodwill, I don't care how hard up you are for a tax write-off (no pun intended there by the way).
So, please....please, please, please, do not donate or buy creepy lingerie from Goodwill. And if you do, PLEASE don't tel lme about it. I realize it's only 2.50 or 5.00 and you might look irresistable in it, but who knows what's on that stuff. You know they don't bleach those things don't you.?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Injustice
I'm not quite sure how or where to begin with this ranting. I guess I'll start with what happened last night and go from there.
A very polite, nice older gentleman came into the library last night. He came up to my co-worker and I and apologized several times to bothering us. Then he asked if he could use our phone to call S.O.S. service. We let him use the phone and couldn't help but overhear his story. He was just released from Oaklawn and they gave him a packet of information with the S.O.S. phone number on it. He was told he could call them for help finding shelter.
The person on the phone basically told him that they were not responsible for that and could not help him. He was very polite to them and apologized for bothering them. We asked him if he had tried the homeless shelter and he was told they were full.
So the poor nice man, with no money and no place to go had to spend the night on the streets. It got pretty cold last night and I was even in a nice warm bed with a thick comforter. (Don't get me wrong, I realize he was released from Oaklawn and anything could be wrong with him, but that still doesn't justify him having to sleep on the streets.)
How does Oaklawn claim to try and rehabilitate or "help" people with addictions or depression and then send them out on the street with no place to go and consider them better.? I mean I know that I would definitely not be depressed or want drugs when I have no where to go all because some facility gave me coping mechanisms. PLEASE!!!! Hello people, if you are going to rehabilitate someone than go one step further and help them back into society in a positive manner. Teaching someone to fish and then sending them to the middle of the lake without a pole DOESN'T do any good. They can't use any of the skills you taught them...
On the other side there is the homeless shelter. I will say that the shelter has done good things for the community. It does have it's positive attributes, but there are people that live there for years. These people have jobs and continue to live there. Then when someone comes along that actually NEEDS a place to stay...they can't. That is one, very selfish of the people who abuse the system and two, very lax on the shelter's part in not kicking these people out. Guidelines have or should have been set for the people living there. It's not permanent housing.
What give you the right to abuse the system that many of us pay into? Maybe you have paid into yourself and feel justified in staying there. I understand that, but there are people who REALLY NEED these services and are not getting them because you feel entitled to take up space. Get over yourself and move on.
Then there is our welfare system. That will continuously need work. There are people scamming the system and essentially stealing money from Welfare because they don't want to work, don't want to work more than they have to or again feel entitled. There are people who lie about the number of people providing income and living in the household. They lie about their income. Sadly, some people who actually need food stamps have to lie in order to get them. Then there are people who DO NOT need them, but feel that they do, so they lie to get them.
Women and couples get turned down all the time because they make a penny too much income or they need one more person to be responsible for in order to receive food stamps.
Then we have the people who actually need assistance or struggle week to week just to buy a $3 gallon of milk for their kids. Thank God for Kroger's who sell things 10 for $10.
The people that work there make way too little, have too big a case load and don't have the time or the energy to monitor all these things. I don't blame them. They work for peanuts and still come to work everyday. The system needs work, I realize that. But who is going to change it? Mitch Daniels? hasn't so far. Obama? he talks a good game. McCain and Sarah Palin? They may have the desire or also talk a good game, but really when was the last time a President made a huge impact on the welfare system for the better. Will Mayor Dick Moore step up in Elkhart? How about our representatives and Senators? We voted them in people! Obviously, we didn't care about our welfare system when deciding who to vote for...How can we expect them to care?!
Ok, I think I have opened enough cans of worms for one night. It just makes me sad. Have a lovely evening and enjoy your warm beds and comfy blankets. You never know when they will be taken from you.
A very polite, nice older gentleman came into the library last night. He came up to my co-worker and I and apologized several times to bothering us. Then he asked if he could use our phone to call S.O.S. service. We let him use the phone and couldn't help but overhear his story. He was just released from Oaklawn and they gave him a packet of information with the S.O.S. phone number on it. He was told he could call them for help finding shelter.
The person on the phone basically told him that they were not responsible for that and could not help him. He was very polite to them and apologized for bothering them. We asked him if he had tried the homeless shelter and he was told they were full.
So the poor nice man, with no money and no place to go had to spend the night on the streets. It got pretty cold last night and I was even in a nice warm bed with a thick comforter. (Don't get me wrong, I realize he was released from Oaklawn and anything could be wrong with him, but that still doesn't justify him having to sleep on the streets.)
How does Oaklawn claim to try and rehabilitate or "help" people with addictions or depression and then send them out on the street with no place to go and consider them better.? I mean I know that I would definitely not be depressed or want drugs when I have no where to go all because some facility gave me coping mechanisms. PLEASE!!!! Hello people, if you are going to rehabilitate someone than go one step further and help them back into society in a positive manner. Teaching someone to fish and then sending them to the middle of the lake without a pole DOESN'T do any good. They can't use any of the skills you taught them...
On the other side there is the homeless shelter. I will say that the shelter has done good things for the community. It does have it's positive attributes, but there are people that live there for years. These people have jobs and continue to live there. Then when someone comes along that actually NEEDS a place to stay...they can't. That is one, very selfish of the people who abuse the system and two, very lax on the shelter's part in not kicking these people out. Guidelines have or should have been set for the people living there. It's not permanent housing.
What give you the right to abuse the system that many of us pay into? Maybe you have paid into yourself and feel justified in staying there. I understand that, but there are people who REALLY NEED these services and are not getting them because you feel entitled to take up space. Get over yourself and move on.
Then there is our welfare system. That will continuously need work. There are people scamming the system and essentially stealing money from Welfare because they don't want to work, don't want to work more than they have to or again feel entitled. There are people who lie about the number of people providing income and living in the household. They lie about their income. Sadly, some people who actually need food stamps have to lie in order to get them. Then there are people who DO NOT need them, but feel that they do, so they lie to get them.
Women and couples get turned down all the time because they make a penny too much income or they need one more person to be responsible for in order to receive food stamps.
Then we have the people who actually need assistance or struggle week to week just to buy a $3 gallon of milk for their kids. Thank God for Kroger's who sell things 10 for $10.
The people that work there make way too little, have too big a case load and don't have the time or the energy to monitor all these things. I don't blame them. They work for peanuts and still come to work everyday. The system needs work, I realize that. But who is going to change it? Mitch Daniels? hasn't so far. Obama? he talks a good game. McCain and Sarah Palin? They may have the desire or also talk a good game, but really when was the last time a President made a huge impact on the welfare system for the better. Will Mayor Dick Moore step up in Elkhart? How about our representatives and Senators? We voted them in people! Obviously, we didn't care about our welfare system when deciding who to vote for...How can we expect them to care?!
Ok, I think I have opened enough cans of worms for one night. It just makes me sad. Have a lovely evening and enjoy your warm beds and comfy blankets. You never know when they will be taken from you.
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