Many years ago I was the recipient of services for the poor.

[SheilaT]

Specifically, I received badly needed dental care.

We were poor. There were times when we went hungry. When I got a once-a-week baby sitting job, I spent the money on groceries for my family. The mom of the girls I babysat knew this because I asked her to stop at the grocery store when she drove me home so I could by food. She couldn't really understand why I wasn't spending the money on myself.

Of course I'd rather have done so. I'm no saint, but I couldn't let my brothers and sisters go hungry if I could buy groceries.

We weren't on welfare because Mom worked. She was a nurse, and back then (this is 1964) nurses didn't make a lot of money, and in fact they were not eligible for unemployment compensation if laid off, because the assumption was that they could always get another job. Mom worked as many extra shifts as she could get, because we needed the money.

We were lucky, because we knew that our dire straits were temporary. We were (still are, oddly enough) white, and so we didn't have institutionalized racism to fight. We knew that over time Mom would make more money, and that the kids at home (we were five to begin with) would grow up and leave, so there'd be more for those left behind.

The fact that we weren't on welfare is totally trivial. We should have been. Anyone today in that situation should be. I absolutely do not resent my tax money helping out those less fortunate than I am. I'm lucky. I have good health. I can work. There are others who cannot. I am so tired of hearing crap about welfare queens and so on, that I could vomit.

The dental care? It was a godsend. I'd knocked out a front tooth and it needed replacing. I went for several years missing that front tooth. In high school. When looks are everything. I will never forget or fail to appreciate what was done for me.

[Hydra]

1. Thanks for posting this

There's no reason why anyone should go without in the US. There's more than enough food for everyone(in fact, we waste a lot of it), there's more than enough housing, and we spend trillions on warfare to protect our colonizing efforts. I'm not sure when everyone started idolizing the less admirable among us, but...I think we can and should do better.

And I hope things eventually worked out for you. Sounds like a bad start :/

[SheilaT]

2. Yes, things did work out for me.

Being white was enormously helpful, and I understood it at the time.

I had various adults around me who supported and encouraged me. My family of origin placed a high value on education. All of those things mattered. I am under no illusion that someone in vastly different circumstances should do as well as I did.

In one way the dental services were trivial in that they didn't make a difference in whether or not we ate or if I had decent clothes to wear, but the improvement in my appearance was vast, and vastly appreciated. No one should have to go through life with bad teeth. No one should have to go hungry. No one should be homeless.

And while I have never been homeless, and as an adult never even close to homelessness, I more or less understand how fragile the ground others stand on.

[pnwmom]

3. I'm glad you got some critical help when you needed it, and that things have gotten better since.

[historylovr]

4. K & R

And I love your sig line.

[SheilaT]

5. Oh, good.

I'm glad.

An earlier sig line was: Dear Algebra, I am not a therapist. Solve your own problems.

[passiveporcupine]

6. I'm so glad you got that help

I had a badly chipped front upper that embarrassed me so much, but I didn't get it fixed (with a patch once the new resin composite materials came out)...so I lived with that awful tooth till I was in my mid thirties.

Missing a tooth can make your teeth grow crooked too. I also had that to deal with from a tooth I accidentally knocked out. It sounds like yours didn't move too much?

[SheilaT]

9. I actually expressed it incorrectly.

I didn't knock a tooth completely out, but it was broken off close enough to the gum line that it looked as if it was missing. So no, the teeth didn't shift at all.

[passiveporcupine]

11. That's good

braces are expensive too!

[raccoon]

7. Great post. K&R. nt

[brer cat]

8. Thank for you posting this, Sheila.

Even on DU we need to be reminded of the good that is done.

K&R

[Heidi]

10. Kick, kick, kick!