The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Pardon me while I step onto my soapbox...

...I've got several things on my mind today. First of all (and this one is where the title came from), the media. Really? EVERY story being about the swine flu? THOUSANDS more people die every year from the REGULAR flu but do you see that all over the news every night (I heard that stat on the radio this morning...not my original info). I am SOOOOOO tired of the alarmist reporting. I've got half a mind to boycott all news - if it's important enough I'll hear about it. I mean, I have a third grader that I tutor and SHE knows about the swine flu! I'm pretty sure when I was that age my biggest concern was whether my friend Lenzie was going to wear a different color Keds than me to school so that we could trade one and wear one of each color.

The Egyptian government has even ordered ALL pigs in the country (which is estimated to be over 300,000 of them) are to be slaughtered immediately. I have read that this possibly has an underlying religious reason (most of the people in the country are Muslim) and I guess maybe this was just a good reason to "enforce" the religious rules... and it's not even being spread by pigs!

Either way - if I hear the words "swine flu" one more time, I'm going to SCREAM!

Next, I'm not sure what the point of this little bit is but I just need to get it out there. In the last couple of weeks I've been approached twice by someone asking me for change, once when I was standing in line at Walgreen's, and once when I was sitting in McDonald's. The first time I was alone, the man asked if I had 95 cents, and I said "I don't have any change," which is true because I empty my change out every night, if I even have any. He looked at me like he didn't believe me, and said "Just 50 cents ma'am, anything". I repeated that I didn't have any money. He got fairly angry, and walked off (without asking any of the 6 other people in line for money). The second time I was at McDonald's with my husband and father-in-law. A man walked in off of the street, came straight to our table, opened his mouth (at the same time displaying at least a few hundred dollars worth of a gold "grill" on his teeth) and slurred "You got 85 cents?" None of us did (although I'm not sure that we would have given it to him given the fact that he already REEKED of alcohol) and he asked again "c'mon man, just a few cents, any change". We replied again that we had no money (I didn't even have my purse) and he got upset and LEFT THE RESTAURANT without asking anyone else in there for money.

I have two problems with this. First of all, what is it about me (or in the second case, me and my husband and father-in-law) that makes me (us) look like we have extra change? Does the fact that I looked like I bathed this morning, and that I appear to be wearing clean clothes mean that I've got more change than a quarter slot machine and I'm just waiting for the lucky person who asks me to hand it over? Second, why the anger when I truthfully say I have no money? No one uses cash anymore, why am I supposed to carry around something I'm not going to use? Just so I can pass it out to those who need another drink?

Please don't get me wrong. I understand that part of my job as a Christian is to help those that need it, and had I had any change the first time, I MIGHT have given the guy some, although I just am never sure about that. My main problem is the sense of entitlement I feel like these people have. Like it's my fault they're in the position they're in and I am obligated to help them out. I've got news for you - I work to earn the money that I do have, and I have expenses too. I have months when I have to wait to buy toilet paper until we get a paycheck, when we "make do" with what's in the pantry until payday. We're not poor, but we are not "rich" in the traditional sense of the word (we don't have just boatloads of disposable income). We have both worked very hard to get an education, and get jobs that pay us. I know that people have circumstances that make it hard to get educated, get a job, etc. but I feel like there are probably options out there for everyone. Fast food restaurants are almost always hiring, it just takes a little effort, and commitment to be responsible enough to show up at a job regularly, etc.

I know that this is probably coming off as really harsh and arrogant and unfeeling, and that's not my intent at all. I'm just frustrated by people who act as if they DESERVE for me to give them handouts. I probably just need an attitude adjustment.