Entitled to Live, Entitled to Work

The other day I was asked why I think there is a "gap" between the middle class and other classes. Really want to know what I think? 

Tax money comes out without my permission or consent. Where I'm from, taking money without asking is called theft. That's problem number one. 

Problem number 2...many, not all but many, people living off welfare are doing so because it's easier than actually working. There have even been interviews of people wherein they're asked why they don't get a job and their response is "I already get a check." 

Meanwhile the working class gets drug and alcohol tested so we can work to provide for not only our own families but theirs as well. 

Why is there a "gap" between the two classes? Because one feels they're "entitled" to handouts stolen from others and the other class is building resentment towards working to provide for everyone else and not being able to actually get ahead.

I understand some people need help. They weren't planning on getting laid off and have a family to support. But there's a difference between those who genuinely just need a little assistance and those who take it for granted. There's also a difference in attitude. The proud don't want to be on welfare; they want to get back to work and earn their own way. Many do just that. The others, they seem to feel welfare is something society just owes them, that they're entitled to just live off everyone else. Well, this article is for you..

I hear this word "entitlement" thrown around. Well I believe they should be "entitled" to work and I should be "entitled" to keep the money I earn. 

Granted, there are people living off welfare because they can't afford to live otherwise. Which is fine. I can understand that people fall on hard times. However, the money they receive should be voluntarily given. Like a donation. The same donations we are asked to give for starving people in other countries. The ones that are tax deductible. 

As for "entitlements".. Soldiers who fought for this country and our freedoms, THEY should be entitled to pay and medical/psychological needs. They earned it. Senior citizens who have worked their whole lives paying into a broken system, THEY should be entitled to money enough to actually live on, not the paltry stipends they've been lucky enough to receive. 

Those on food stamps and welfare...it's a social aid. AID people. It's help, not a career or lifestyle. And, since it's my money feeding them, I should be given a say in how it's spent. I earned that money, not them. No junk food and sodas. Only fresh proteins, fruits and veg. Eat healthy. If you don't like having to eat healthy, get off the system. If you feel it's degrading to be told what you can and can't eat, get off the system. You should be discouraged from using it as a career path. 

When I was growing up I was ashamed of getting food stamps and government food. These days it's a badge of honor. If you're on food stamps but can afford beer, cigarettes and tattoos then you can afford food. There should be community service involved. Hey, you want to live off the community then you can give back to it. There's enough litter to pick up and graffiti to paint over. And, if you can't afford to feed your kids and you're living off welfare, QUIT HAVING KIDS! 

http://youtu.be/z_Ng84CoFDs

http://youtu.be/7UREepszk7I

Is everyone abusing the system? Of course not. But is everyone paying into the system? Nope. Only those who earn money pay into the system. Involuntarily. The government steals money from every dollar to use as they see fit. The working class works to pay top dollar to politicians and those who make a career of living off the system. Be productive and you get penalized. Why work and struggle when you're "entitled" to freebies?

Our society is declining right in front of us while we laugh at it over our morning coffee. Or we whisper about it afraid to speak up because to do so isn't "socially acceptable". Guess what, our society isn't acceptable. Speak up people, let our voices be heard. 

My Monster and I

There's a monster inside me, yeah, I know he's there

I feed him my dreams at night and he brings me despair

I should try to stop him but the truth is I think I enjoy the fear

It makes me feel alive to scream myself awake when he's near

I tried once to fight it, this feeling of dread

But then I awoke and was sure I was dead

It kinda scares me when the world is happy and bright

Because I don't know how to live when there is no fright

I was just like you once upon a time

Frail and naive, having done no crime

Then one day I went sinister and dark

I got twisted inside and he made his evil mark

I'm much better now, it feels like I belong

In this world we've made that's full of wrong

The politicians are greedy and lead the pack

The church full of rapists and steal money by the stack

But you want to condemn me for being heartless and mean

When you don't realize you yourself live in the grey in between

You think you're above it all because you go to church on Sunday

But you'll be the first to walk past the homeless on Monday 

At least we can admit to our sins, my monster and me

But you do evil so blatant even a blind man could see

You'll spend millions to raise half that to feed some cause

But if the starving are on your corner out come your claws

You'll support some couple that made the news half a world away

But you want your neighbor to be kicked out and sent packing because he's gay

See, my monster is inside me and I can admit it

You hide your monster because you're a hypocrite

You cry for the starving children forced to work dirt cheap

But you'll buy the clothes they make to save a buck, you spineless sheep

You'll just follow the flock and support anything "politically correct"

Without caring once until it's your own life that's been wrecked

Me and my monster, we will sit back and enjoy this tableau 

While you and your "rightness" stoke the fires below

Oh, We are all going to hell, this much is clear

And when you're burning my monster and I will cheer

Learning How to Live

• Marcus Aurelius said, “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” How often do we allow the problems that we face daily hold us back from what we want or what will make us truly happy? Happiness holds a key to beginning to live the life we are entitled to. We are all entitled to a greatness which we all possess inside of us. We just need to see where that greatness will lead us. I want to live a life with no regrets. I want to truly live as if tomorrow will never come.
• Kahlil Gibran stated “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.” Attitude can change the outcome to any situation. Optimism can lead to positive outlook, and pessimism can always lead to disaster. Everything is how you choose to view it. Humor can always be a means of showing a positive attitude, and things don’t always seem so bad. I don’t always see the cup half full, but I am learning to refrain from viewing it as half empty.
• Friedrich Nietzsche declared “We love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving.” We must first be able to love ourselves before others can love us. Sometimes learning to love ourselves is the hardest, because we were not taught to value ourselves and all we can accomplish. We, then, learn to love those that are in our daily life. Once we develop a love for our family and friends, we can develop a different kind of love, a compassion for the strangers that pass briefly in our lives. I find that I am not the most lovable of creatures, but I can be viewed as a person containing compassion toward those around me.
• Socrates acknowledged, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Daily we must examine where we are in life and what we want. If we don’t like something in our life, then a change is inevitable. I always believed if you don’t like something in life, don’t moan and complain about it unless you are prepared to do something about it. I was told as a child that I was hard to get to know because I was always changing. I say I evolve into a different form of me.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson believed, “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Life’s greatest lessons are best learned trial and error. Rising above the problems is not necessarily easy. They can be the foundation of the person you should be. There are moments where the failures seem more than the accomplishments. That isn’t so. You must look deeper into the failure for there is an accomplishment hiding seeking to be found.
• Voltaire quoted, “We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.” For me I am learning to live with the expectations I place upon myself and not the expectations of others. The outside world cannot provide happiness for us. We must first seek it among ourselves. Once we obtain a certain amount of love for our personal selves we can learn to love the world around us. This is the key to obtaining the happiness of a life well lived.

Misplaced Snow Owl's Simple Life