Last evening I was watching the news and the irritation that had been building for several day became anger. Here is why:

My parents were poor people (as far as this material world goes), My mother's mother died when my mother was nine days old, so she had to be raised by relatives who could ill afford it. On their small farm in New England they could barely make ends meet. They also raised my aunt, and when she graduated from high school, she worked her way through college. My mother went to work after graduation so she could assist the family. That's just the way things were in those days.

My father's mother entered USA through Ellis Island. She and her sister were in their early teens when they were sent here from Austria to escape the opressive hand of the Russian Tsar. They had nothing, and they, too were raised by relatives. As immigrants the two sisters did as most immigrant woman had to do in those days and took on menial jobs, often as domestics. That's just the way things were in those days.

My grandmother fell in love and married a ne'er-do-well, and after fathering two sons he abandoned the family, later divorcing my grandmother for another woman. He also abandoned her. My grandmother raised the two boys as a single mother doing domestic work. They became two men of "our greatest generation."

My father and mother met working in the resorts of New England and Florida, serving the needs of the wealthy. They married, and a year later my sister was born. My father taught himself to weld and was a very skilled welder until he had to stop for health reasons. He was, in the vernacular, a working stiff.

Skip ahead to about 1954. My parents were poor, but in all those years never asked for help. They did their best and we made do with what my dad made. Because of my parents sacrifices we kids didn't know we were poor. In 1954 my mother had just come from a TB sanitarium and my father had to enter one. My mother was unable to work, so there was no income. I was just in Jr. High School, so I could not be of much financial help. We were collecting Aid to Dependant Children, and it was only used for legitimate needs. And it griped us to have to accept a penny of it.

Now I am seeing on TV people who are receiving assistance complaining because it is not enough. Those people make me very angry. I'm sure that that is not the majority of the victims. The news media seem to want to publicize every one of them they can find. It makes me want to take back what has been given them, and give it to someone else who appreciates it.

Face it, folks. The government and generous agencies and individuals can help you. But we can't afford to supply your every need. A large part of your recovery is going to have to be by your own incentive. If you don't have that, stop griping and accept your lack of progress. That's life!

Okay, that wasn't politically correct. Go ahead and fire away.