Letter, Opinion

What I see, from the other side of the fence

Dear Editor,

I hope this falls on the right ears. It has been a rough year for everyone, and it is not going to get any better whether Covid is controlled or not.

Our economic situation in this country does not leave much for the average person any more … as the days and years go by, I see this country becoming like England, that is, a so-called ruptured economy: those of us that work, or did work, make everyone else’s payments, and everyone else is on benefits, meaning social welfare programs.

Yes, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and the middle class is slowly drifting down to slightly above the poor class. I am 71, and at our age, there is no way out, and if the younger generation doesn’t get itself a good education, they will be where we are, right out of school.

Our society is full of useless drug addicts, people of all kinds and colors are trying to take what little the poor folks have by scams of every sort, the government and states are taxing us on everything they can think of. They hand you a stimulus check, and take your food stamps, they raise your social security and then raise your Medicare/Medicaid payments and deductibles. They talk about affordable housing , but the rents are still more than what Social Security pays, and if you can afford that, then you don’t eat because all your money went to bills and rent.

If you worked for a farm, or owned one, it is so expensive trying to produce milk or what ever product you are into, you can’t save money for retirement, because machinery and seed and grain and just living life, won’t let you.

So you wind up an old person either living on the street, or with your kids, or migrating to climates that are warmer all year, where you won’t have to fight the cold, as you live in the woods, with who knows how many other homeless … and eventually, the kind, decent person you once were now becomes just like all the other undesirable pinheads that are out there trying to do you out of what you have because they don’t have anything, and if you’re lucky, one day you don’t wake up and it’s finally over, the world has one less homeless person to kick around or make fun of.

This country, the greatest country in the world, went wrong when it let the first homeless person become homeless, when it let the first veteran be hungry or go without medical attention, when it let the first woman be battered by her spouse and nothing was done about it, the first kid be abused in any form.

I could go on, but why, no one is listening, we’re too busy thinking what we will eat or wear tomorrow, or who’s on TV tonight.

Sooner or later, we all become stray cats and dogs and whatever.

The thing is, if we ever become organized, then you well-off people better watch out, because we expect justice, but you know what, we won’t be mean or nasty like you people are . . . Why? Because we know what it’s like to be on the down side.

V. Valentino

Orwell

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