So perfect, and of course not so perfect

I have it really good right now.  I read every day about horrible goings on in other countries.  I have seen pictures of people carrying their dead children in the street after being killed by militants, the military or terrorists (as if there is a difference in some places) and I know I have it good.

I am also so incredibly poor that I have to get help to take care of me and my daughter, but I hope to get through school and be able to work soon.  I would love to be able to support us and be able to donate some of my own money and time to those in need.  I know that I have it lucky but I also know that what I have is threatened, because it has already been cut quite severely.  And of course I talk of "welfare" or what it has become which is not actually welfare, it's called Welfare to Work, or CalWorks, in California.  You have to work and then they give you some help.  It's not a lot of money.  It's barely enough to live on, and for many it's not enough to live on, and they cut the benefits each year.  But I want to make sure that people can receive these benefits long after I am off of them because they are so important for the future of our country.  We cannot treat the poor as if they are here simply to be handles only as much as we wish.  The poor are the same people everyone else is, they/we simply do not have the money and the means to get along out their/our own.

It makes no sense to cut people off and force them into lives of crime or danger simply because some people don't want to pay any taxes.  I have never in my life thought that I would be better off if I payed no taxes, and I will never in my life think that taxes are all bad.  I think some money, maybe even a lot of it, is not handled the way I wish, but for me the public schools and the roads and libraries and welfare (or how it exists today) is worth it.  I believe in helping people and I would always help my neighbors.  I believe taxes are a way of helping all of our neighbors.  It's a way of saying of sharing the cost of those things we use, which obviously is the point, but this is clearly lost on many people.  People who are obsessed with the tea party way of thinking.  This selfish idealism is going to ruin our lives and the lives of everyone in this country who is not making so much money they can afford not to know how many houses they own.

I know this is just touching on it, and it's just a small bit of what I think but I just wanted to touch on that today and then I must go put my child to bed so that we may get some rest and then we will clean tomorrow so that we can all be healthy and feel good and have clear heads.