Two Sides To The Coin

I rarely get angry or upset over things I see people posting on Facebook.  Facebook is very much an open online diary where people are free to "voice" their opinions, thoughts and advice.  Just as in the "real" world, there are often times when no two people will agree on a specific subject.  Sometimes when people don't agree they will spark a debate.  Sometimes I'm the one who starts the debate.  Sometimes I'm the one who joins in on one already in progress.  Always I'm of the mindset to "agree to disagree" when I can see that the conversation is going 'round and 'round in circles.
But last night, for reasons in which I'll be explaining in this blog today, I felt angry over something I'd read.  Angry enough to the point where I felt my blood boil and, rather than openly discuss the issue on the Internet, I chose to walk away from it and instead called Jim to vent. But even after I talked to Jim I was still left with a lot on my mind.
There are always two sides to every coin.  People will always have opinions, which I feel is a good thing.  Those opinions, however, should only be voiced if they are based on facts - whether they be personal or others.
So what's gotten under my skin you may be wondering?   It directly involves the HealthCare/Welfare situation our Country is currently in.  Just as people who are opposed to the newest changes voice their opinions, people who are for those changes voices theirs as well.  Which is fine.  To a degree.  I feel like a good 80% of people who are for the new changes might actually change their mind on how they feel about it if the roles were reversed - or, at the very least, they looked at the other side of that coin.  It's infuriating when those people come across as having tunnel vision, refusing to even entertain the idea that there IS, infact, another side.
Here's our side of the coin (and by "our" I mean me and Jim):
On average Jim works a minimum of 65 hours per week.  A minimum of 65 hours.  Monday-Friday he sees the kids for approx. 2 hours per day.  It doesn't take a math whiz to figure out these numbers.  He works a lot. 
We live in a small, modest home.  We do not have cable, nor do we have a home telephone.  We have the cheapest Internet plan available, as well as the least expensive cell phone package.  I spend a minimum of 2 hours per day (!!) hanging laundry to dry in the basement and/or outside.  Year round.  Our energy efficient dryer tacks on anywhere between $15-$25 to our electric bill per month, which is why I rarely use it.  We heat our home with oil.  Heating with oil is outrageously expensive, especially now.  So, during the day our thermostat is kept at 64 degree's.  At night it drops down to 60 degree's.  We wear multiple layers of clothes during the day and have extra blankets on the beds at night.  Why not just suck it up, crank up the thermostat and deal with the oil bill?  Because at over $800 per tank it's not an option for us.  Things like take-out food and/or going out to restaurants, name-brand items and other various things that cost extra money like the movies/dryer/heat are luxury things to us that we rarely splurge on.  We live a frugal life.
So maybe you're wondering where all of our money goes.  Maybe you're thinking: gee, Jim works so much, he must bring home a good amount of money, so where does it go?
Over the years Jim has become somewhat of a financial expert.  He is incredibly smart with our money and, because of that, we have very few bills hanging over our heads.  We have no credit card debt.  We pay all of our mortgage, utility and tax bills on time.  When our income tax return arrives it stays in our bank account for all of 24 hours before "disappearing" - it goes directly to paying off this house.
Now, moving onto the healthcare/welfare topic.  Like everyone else who works full-time, a portion of Jim's check goes to taxes and helping fund things like healthcare and welfare.  Now, with the new changes in effect, an even more significant amount of money is being taken out of his check to help pay for Obama's "Affordable Healthcare Act".  And so begins my vent/rant.  Affordable, to me, means you pay something.  It's not free.  You have to pay *something* because you can't afford to pay the whole thing.  Health insurance is now mandatory, which means come hell or high water, you need to have it.  If you can't afford it, someone else will pay for it for you.  Someone like Jim, one of the hardest workers I've ever known in my life, who sacrifices so much of his time in order to keep our family afloat, now has an even more money being taken out of his check.  Being on welfare and/or receiving free health insurance should be a temporary thing but that's where there is a big issue. It is not a temporary thing.  While there certainly are extreme situations in which people really do need assistance, there are also extreme situations in which people are taking advantage of the system, day in and day out, at others expense.  At Jim's expense.  At my family's expense.  Are they capable of working?  Yes.  Do some of them work but don't make "enough" money?  Yes.  Others don't work.  Some are incapable of working.  The ones who are incapable of working should be the rarity, but they're not.  They're the common ones.  My bottom line is this:  If you work but don't make enough money, get another job.  Get a third job.  Sacrifice to make ends meet, just like me and Jim do.  Stop picking from invisible money trees.. because they don't exist.  You're taking money from people like Jim who has to miss out on so much of his kids lives because he wants to make sure that we have a roof over our head, that our bills are paid.  Put yourself in his shoes and look through his eyes.  Imagine working a hard, physical, demanding job - day in and day out - and then getting your paycheck and seeing it decrease on a regular basis??  It's frustrating and it's sad.  Meanwhile, maybe you're working but only working for a few hours per week.  What are you doing in the meantime?  I bet your warmer than we are.  I bet the thought of having to hang your laundry to dry has never even crossed your mind.  I bet you have cable.  Maybe even a dishwasher.  Are you doing your part to pinch pennies?  Are you doing your part to help support yourself?  Probably not and here's why:  the current system makes it so easy to get things at low cost or free that why the heck would anyone put forth the effort to go out of their way NOT to have to rely on assistance??  People who have worked for their entire lives, retiring well into their 60's, are watching their social security - a system that they paid into..that money came out of their check on a weekly basis to pay into!!! - disappear right before their eyes.  Yet look at all of the people who are in the welfare system?!  Look at all of the people who are now getting FREE healthcare.  My point to all of this is that it is NOT free.  It does, infact, come at an expense.  The issue is that it's at the expense of someone else and those who are receiving this free 'assistance' don't seem to realize - or even appreciate - that.
I have no problem with helping those who are less fortunate than us.  I have no problem feeding the hungry or helping to house the homeless.  What I have a problem with is handing money to those who are perfectly capable of making their own money.  I have a problem with handing money to people who claim to be poor, but have more "luxuries" than I do - despite the fact that my husband works a bazillion hours more than they do.  Call me judgmental.  Call me whatever the heck you want.  But these are the facts is this is why I feel we need to change these "new" changes.  There needs to be a "cap" on welfare, just as there is a "cap" on everything else in life!  There needs to be a limit, a limit that can only be exceeded under extreme and rare circumstances.  We need to work TOGETHER -- as a Country.  There needs to be stricter guidelines and, overall, it needs to be far more difficult to receive assistance than it is right now.
Do not tell me that you're poor when you have no idea what the meaning of being poor REALLY is.  Do not preach to me the bible, because I really do not believe Jesus would approve of 90% of the things that are going on in our world today.
Do not say something like: I got free health insurance!  It was easy!  You should too!  Because while it may be free for you, it is at someone else's expense!
If you disagree with all of this, that's fine.  It's probably because you're one of the people who is benefiting from receiving "free" assistance (how those two words can even be put together like that is beyond me).  I am not asking anyone to agree with me on anything, actually.  What I am asking is for everyone to have an open mind and to remember that there are infact two sides to the coin.  How would you feel if you were on the other end of this?  If an incredible amount of the money that you earned, working exceptionally long hours, were taken out to help someone that is seriously better off than you are? 
Food for thought, right?