A college friend of mine posted this on facebook with the caption, “It’s called responsibility people!”
I kind of sighed and shrugged it off until I noticed all the likes and happy comments it was getting. It’s great this soon-to-be college graduate has worked his or her way through school debt free. But many of us can use the same phrases in this “I am NOT the 99%” picture with a different end to the story.
I am one of them.
I did not get 90% of my moderately priced, in-state, public university schooling paid for by scholarships. Instead I took out loans, that I am still (very slowly) paying off. I worked at least 30 hours a week busting my @$$ to pay for my room and board and books and everything else that popped up while I was in school. In fact, for a while I worked my 30+ hours in a restaurant, worked 30+ hours of night shift at a hospital an hour away and I donated plasma for extra funds as well.
When I got out of school, I got into the aerospace industry - and was laid off. I then found employment in the travel industry - until 9/11 happened. I’ve lived well within my means, but can’t save money for the future because I have bills to pay in the now. One of those bills is from a hospital for procedures done when I could not afford individual health insurance and was not offered any coverage at my workplace.
Do I blame Wall Street and governement and expect things to be handed to me? No. Do I believe that you somehow deserve some extra cookie because you were smart enough to get a scholarship to pay your way through school? No. You can’t see that there are good people around you that are struggling in the 99%? You need some real-world education as to what is really going on in this country outside of your bubble. Whether or not you are in the 99% isn’t always your decision, contrary to your belief. Whether you are disrespectful and disdainful of those who are in the 99% is most certainly always your decision.
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Even though I’m not true to this picture’s statement, I agree. I’m kinda getting annoyed by this 99% stuff. For the most part, we are where we are based upon how we have handled our life and situations. Not Wall Street, Not the Government, Not Obama, Not Canada nor whomever you want to blame. We pay our taxes for the Government to run our Country while we work. That is the system. They don’t “Owe” us money, free healthcare, free education….whatever. We have chosen to not always push ourselves, we haven’t had the balls to break out of hard choices or circumstances in our lives. The Government doesn’t “owe” us a job. They don’t. If someone has decided to let one person in the house work and the other stay at home with the kids, that is their choice. The government doesn’t “owe” them free anything because they can’t make ends meet. If you can’t pay the $100+ a month for healthcare, cut your fucking cable service. Be an adult. Don’t sit at some Occupy thing streaming other Occupy events on your ipad. Go accomplish something.
Education and life is expensive. It sucks having to pay for medicine. It sucks having to pay for “learnin’”…Oh freaking well. Why can we not do now what our parents and grandparents have done. We have way more advances in everything and opportunities everywhere, but we bitch about what we “don’t” have.
Yes the Government has issues and generally sucks balls. We have all these things we want them to change, but we have no answers. We want change, reform, this, that,…..Wants in one hand, shit in the other and see which one fills up first.
