entitlement?? i think not!

so yesterday morning on the way home from dropping off my daughter at school, i was listening to this christian radio station. on came a commentary by some guy (probably important in the christian world but i didn't recognize or remember the name) about taxes. he was seemingly outraged over a recent report stating that half of US households don't pay any income taxes. he went on to speak about how many of these families were poor or lower middle class who felt "entitled" to not having to pay income taxes or in some cases receiving refunds because of all the deductions.

honestly. i'm poor -- actually, we're so poor we don't even make it to the chart -- so that's pretty poor. i don't feel entitled to a darn thing. i'd like to have a job making a regular salary -- but i can't seem to find one. but i don't feel entitled to anything. and if this guy thinks that living in subsidized housing is an entitlement, then he needs to come here and live for a while and see if its really all he thinks it is. i don't get food stamps and i occasionally will visit the local foodbank (but i don't go every month or every week like some folks i know and i don't take everything that is offered either). never ever have i felt that i was entitled to anything.

recently during this whole health care debate, i asked the question about how poor ppl without an income or who weren't making ends meet now were supposed to afford to "buy" this required health care, and someone (an acquaintance of mine) made the statement that i shouldn't worry because some other taxpayer would be forced to pay a larger amount in order for those of us who couldn't afford it to be "entitled" to it.

i'm really tired of ppl using this word. in the bible, we r commanded by jesus to feed the hungry, house the homeless, clothe the naked, right the injustices, break the chains. christians need to get a grip on this because not only is it stated by jesus -- its stated by god (isaiah 58) that that is the kind of "fasting" he requires. u can't "give" it and then be negative about it by saying we feel "entitled" to it.

here's the reality -- yes, there r ppl who milk the system for all they can get. but there r also ppl who don't have anywhere else to go, nothing else to stand on, who genuinely need a helping hand and to lump us all together because u feel the tax/government system is broken and its all "our fault" is an unfair assessment. try living in my shoes for a day, week, month, year -- maybe ur views would be softened and changed. we aren't all leeches -- some of us r just trying to get by.