Yankee, I've had an epiphany!

Jessys_Girl

I was reading and responding to the "sassy, I have a question" post below and I swear to God it hit me like a ton of bricks and about 12 light bulbs FINALLY went off for me.

I am realizing that my obsession with "welfare abuse" is really not about "welfare abuse" at all........it boils down to the DRUG abuse piece of things (I am not even sure if I'm making any sense right now, I'm just trying to get this thought out because this really has changed my perspective on a lot of things.).

I realized while reading the Sassy post that I am far more upset by how the abuse of illegal drugs affects our families and communities than I am about who does what with their welfare money.  At one point I think I thought that they went hand in hand, but I am realizing more and more that they DON'T.

 Seriously, this has really changed the way I am looking at things.  Here I am, a Social Worker, who fights DAILY for people's right to have welfare benefits, and for their right to recieve assistance for their daily needs, and I was coming across as someone who did not want others to have that right, when in reality the problem I was so frustrated over was the negative effects that drugs have on our society/community/families.  And the few anecdotal tales of drug users being able to "scam the system" and still be drug abusers got me fired up on the "welfare reform" bandwagon.  But I see now that it is not welfare reform that is needed, but something entirely different.  As a society we need to do everything in our power to minimize the negative affect drugs are having on our communities........

So that was rambling and probably didn't make any sense, but i just wanted to share that with you.