You may not be on welfare, but oh so close ...
When I talked a lot during against the bill protests regarding welfare , and the stupid people who dont realise they are one step, one coin toss, one event from becoming their own hated nemesis, I thought how many people understand this, and today I find this wonderful piece that I reproduce here below.
Please share this - it explains a lot. - Jules.
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Via purplepersuasion
Mental health blog by a service user with bipolar disorder
One degree of separation – there is no “them” and “us”
103,545 people on Facebook like “I hate benefit scrounging work shy bastards.”
What separates them from benefit claimants? One event beyond their control.
One departmental downsizing
One ruptured blood vessel
One car accident that you couldn’t prevent
One expected baby born with an unexpected disability
One company that suddenly tumbles into receivership
One slip, one trip, one fall on the ice, the rug, the pavement, the stairs, the shower
One bereavement you couldn’t get over
One rolling contract not renewed this financial year
One frail elderly parent you cannot bear to be cared for by strangers
One faulty gene triggered into rapid action
One unscrupulous employer who learns you are pregnant
One partner who was supposed to be “too young” for dementia
One paid job now done by an unpaid intern
One medical image confirming the worst
One mental health breakdown you never saw coming
One pension fund that didn’t deliver
One roadside IED
One factory closure
One work-related injury in the only field you ever trained for.
And if and when it happens to them…there may not be a safety net left.
Hello Jules,
ReplyDeleteThis is the impression I had yesterday at the TUC rally. When the protesters left Hyde Park, they passed DPAC protesters who were blocking the road. Not one stopped, or joined them. There was even an RCN rep who took some pictures and I wondered whether he was one of the NHS nurses who accepted to work for Atos. If there was solidarity yesterday, I did feel it extended to disabled or unemployed people, who are by definition under-represented.
Anita Bellows
Erratum: I did not feel it extended .....
ReplyDeletethis is so true, so sad. My one incident? I was very successful in my career and invested in several businesses and employed a friend" to manage then whilst I got on with my career knowing I had a good pension awaiting me [the businesses]. Unbeknown to me my " friend" developed a gambling and drinking habit and to cover his tracks i.e stealing all my money, set alight my main building including my flat. Lost the building, the business and all my photos, memories etc. to make matters worse the cheque he used for the insurance premiun bounced 'cos he'd stolen all the money from the a/c. [He's now doing 6 years] I tried be a good guy and paid off all the creditors which means I now exist on pension benefit and housing allowance. So yes one hiccup can destroy your life and to be called a scrounger by poor little rich kids pisses me off.But I would rather go to my grave being thought of as a good guy than a rich guy!!
ReplyDeleteso you think all these people are workshy scroungers... wow
ReplyDeletethere is a huge distinction between those who can't support themselves and those that choose not to, it is you that misunderstands the debate.