4 ms·

Why the irrational fear of taking government assistance?

Shivetya 12y ago
there are those who were raised to do all for themselves and others rather than take a handout. This includes working multiple jobs and the like instead of accepting assistance. you cannot under estimate the value you place in things in your everyday life when you know you worked to obtain them. I cannot imagine being unemployed and simply collecting money and assistance. I would take entry level jobs putting up groceries to bide my time, or be at the local donation center sorting stuff for free. idle time leads to an idle mind and that does more damage than about anything else I know of
- Delmania 12y ago
  The problem with this mindset is that it conveniently ignores the fact that these people pay into this handout programs every pay check. It's akin to paying for health insurance every 2 weeks and then paying all costs out of pocket because you don't want to rely on others.
CPLX 12y ago
Because we're Americans, and we've been subjected to a several decade long PR campaign so that instead of thinking the obvious, which is that the government assistance program is precisely for this kind of situation, and the author of the story, having paid into the system for years, should of course use the temporary help to get back on her feet, we are trained to believe that those benefits are for "bad" people or "other" people and we don't want to be one of them and they are so shameful and vile that even being associated with that group temporarily will rub off and taint you.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  I'm not American, I just prefer that people that really need it get it rather than that I'd get it as long as I can find some other way to make ends meet. That would include selling off my assets and working crap jobs if that's what it took. It's nothing to do with shame or finding people that do need assistance vile, I just don't consider myself (for now, this may change) to be one of them. But then again, I've always been the 'help yourself' type of person, my main reason for that is that I like to have some control over my life and government hand-outs rarely come without strings and can be withdrawn at a moments notice. But for those that really need them it's very good they exist.

there are those who were raised to do all for themselves and others rather than take a handout. This includes working multiple jobs and the like instead of accepting assistance. you cannot under estimate the value you place in things in your everyday life when you know you worked to obtain them. I cannot imagine being unemployed and simply collecting money and assistance. I would take entry level jobs putting up groceries to bide my time, or be at the local donation center sorting stuff for free. idle time leads to an idle mind and that does more damage than about anything else I know of

Delmania 12y ago
The problem with this mindset is that it conveniently ignores the fact that these people pay into this handout programs every pay check. It's akin to paying for health insurance every 2 weeks and then paying all costs out of pocket because you don't want to rely on others.

CPLX 12y ago

Because we're Americans, and we've been subjected to a several decade long PR campaign so that instead of thinking the obvious, which is that the government assistance program is precisely for this kind of situation, and the author of the story, having paid into the system for years, should of course use the temporary help to get back on her feet, we are trained to believe that those benefits are for "bad" people or "other" people and we don't want to be one of them and they are so shameful and vile that even being associated with that group temporarily will rub off and taint you.

jacquesm 12y ago
I'm not American, I just prefer that people that really need it get it rather than that I'd get it as long as I can find some other way to make ends meet. That would include selling off my assets and working crap jobs if that's what it took. It's nothing to do with shame or finding people that do need assistance vile, I just don't consider myself (for now, this may change) to be one of them. But then again, I've always been the 'help yourself' type of person, my main reason for that is that I like to have some control over my life and government hand-outs rarely come without strings and can be withdrawn at a moments notice. But for those that really need them it's very good they exist.