Ready. Aim. Fire.

I. am. not. politically. correct. PERIOD.

I have little to no tolerance for those who will not help themselves. PERIOD.

Do not confuse this statement for "those who can not help themselves."

There is a difference. A HUGE difference.

This morning a woman (fifty something), her daughter (thirty something) and granddaughter, came into my office. The smell was.....well....not good. As my grandmother always said....."soap is cheap", definately alot cheaper than the cigarettes they were smoking to help attain the nice aroma.

The woman was in front of me complaining about how nobody would pay for their bill, which was over a year old and we have NEVER hassled her about paying. She was irate that no one else, not the father-in-law, not the government, not a life insurance company that they had failed to pay their premiums to.....nobody would pay it.

My insides were tightening, the hair on the back of my neck began to stand up, and my heart began to race.

Attitude is everything. EVERYTHING. And hers sucked!

We have written off more than our share of bills. There isn't one person that works here that doesn't realize that death is unpredictable, and most people aren't prepared. For people already essentially living paycheck to paycheck, there generally isn't any left at the end of the month for a funeral bill. I mean, afterall, what are we going to do? Dig the person up? Not hardly.

Some people just do not have it to give, others send in $5-10 a month. But is the awareness. The acknowledgement. And the TRY!

There is a level of respect reserved for those who want to do the right thing, but are not able. There is an honor in trying.....

For me, however, there is NO honor in sitting back on a well-able backside bitching because NO ONE else will step up to the plate. PERIOD. And it was obvious that she certainly wasn't going to.

When the thirty-something daughter, marched her three year old angel faced daughter up to me pushed her towards my desk and says...llike a parent bragging on their child....."She is three. She has had seziures. We had DFS declare her disabled. (AND I QUOTE) She gets a check every month!"

I wanted to grab that little girl and run. What type of life do you have being introduced to the world as ".........disabled.....she gets a check every month now!." As if the pride comes not from the person she is and will grow to be, but yet from the fact that, at 3, "she gets a check now."

My voice and my words barely stayed in check as I continued to offer our help and services to these people.

"These people" are the people who make me question the system. "These people" are the people who make me support (go ahead and throw stones) some Republican policies. There is something to be said about being accountable for yourself, whether willingly, or forcefully. I am not unaware of the flaws in the system or the party. I do not support/or not support someone because of the political party they are affiliated with.....but their standpoints. And many times, I find that I, *gasp* agree with the elephants.

I feel thesystem is in place to help those who really trully need it, and yet those who need it, often times the elderly, do not get it because of capable individuals who refuse to do for themselves. These are the *people* I refer to. I have worked in the medical field, in banking and now in the funeral home industry and have seen "these people", in all of these occupations. My experiences have shown me that often times the people who need the help the worst are the last to ask for it....... It has also made me skeptical of the people who walk throught the door with their hand already out.

I have worked for, as my husband has, everything we have. Nothing has been given to us. We are no strangers to hard work. As cheesy as it sounds, it is our heritage. It is how we were raised and it is how we will raise our children. If you are able to work...... you do.

I do know that my world is a little different than the city life I read about in other blogs. I have a deep respect for Jen at "droolstreet", although I am generally a silent lurker there, I am inspired by her stories and I silently cheer her on with her quest to eradicate homelessness and the entrapments of poverty.

So where do I fit in? Am I somewhere in the middle. Can you straddle the fence, so to speak? It is rural here......am I so far removed from reality that I can't see the hand in front of my face? Maybe I am just a country girl that is too naive to "get it".

Enlighten me. (and let the stone throwing begin)