The Tit-Sucker's Lament

                                                 

Last Wednesday morning I went over to a thrift shop not far from my home.  I was looking for a used replacement for my old G.E. 60's era toaster.  Just adjacent to that thrift shop is a community food bank.  I've taken cans of soup and boxes of citrus from my trees there on several occasions.  On this particular morning I noticed a Help Wanted sign displayed prominently in the front window of the community bank.

That sign sparked my curiosity.  I walked in the door to the food bank and asked the counter clerk in the little "sorting foray" they have at the front why they would need to solicit volunteers for help when so many are getting stuff for free?  I'm sure I was overheard by some of the dozen or so folks sitting in chairs filling out applications for access to the free food.  The clerk just shook her head; she didn't want to say what she was really feeling.  So I left, still wondering how could it be that, among the thousand or so people who come here every week, that there's not a single one of them who are willing to put in a few hours of stocking shelves in exchange for the free grub.

On further thought I was pretty sure I knew the reason why the only food bank volunteer workers are those who are already working, maintaining a home, raising kids, helping with homework, and still had time to give to their community.  It is what plagues America in all facets of our society.  It is the plague of tit-suckers who can't even comprehend the idea that they should contribute something when they get so much for nothing.  Whether it is three years of uninterrupted unemployment checks, food stamp cards, or a nice welfare check, it is something they feel entitled to without regard to the idea of earning it.

Then, just this morning I read that Hall of Fame Basketball player, and very wealthy Adrian Dantley, is working as a school crossing guard at a predominantly Black school in Maryland.  He earns $15,000 per year and gets his health insurance for free.  The crux of the article was really focused on how strange it is that a man who owns dozens of businesses, and who is one of those rare ones that always managed his millions in player earnings carefully, would be working for fifteen grand a year.  Dantley does it because he enjoys being around kids in his retirement...and I found that admirable and enduring.

But I couldn't  help but chew on the article a little more.  I wondered why this Black school couldn't find a single parent or family member who would be willing to help kids across the street and augment their poverty level income, especially if the job also offered free health insurance!

Then I thought on it a little more and, sadly, it all became clear.  Who, in that neighborhood is going to go out for two hours a day and hold a crossing sign for $15,000 a year when you've already got a welfare check coming each month, and you don't have to stand out in the heat or cold, even if it is for two hours a day.

And the free health insurance that comes with the job no doubt requires an employee contribution and doctor and hospital co-pays.  Who in that neighborhood would be fool enough to take a commercial health insurance plan when you can draw Medicaid where you don't have to pay any co-pays and Uncle Sugar throws in free dental along with it!

Even sadder; when I was a kid, either parents or middle grade students performed crossing guard duties for nothing.  Parents volunteered and felt it was part of keeping their children safe.  Middle grade students volunteered to do it because it made them feel responsible and "grown up".  Oh, and you did get a free .25 cent lunch ticket on the following school day!  But of course that was back in the days when government wasn't giving 70% of all students free breakfast and lunches.

Ah, the plague of 100 million American tit-suckers.  Far too important to stock food bank shelves and far too important to heft a 6ft crossing sign for a couple of hours a day....even for pay!

Sad.  Damned Sad.