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Posted By: Chuck Montoya

I have been reading now, this thread since it started.I must say that everyone here has valid points.I personally know firsthand, both sides of this coin. I grew up in a terribly dysfunctional family and was homeless quite often during my childhood.I started working in the oil industry at 15 yrs old.Always being big for my age, it wasn't hard to convince an industry that needed workers desperately and really didn't care anyway, of my age.I was tired of never having necessities and had a younger brother that I was responsible for. At 18, I got hurt and over the next 3 years had 2 back surgeries. I didn't try to suck the insurance company dry and believed that the company I worked for would take care of me as they assured me they would.I agreed to a very modest settlement thinking that I would just go back to work and get on with my life.Not wanting any handouts, only to return to my job and resume my life. Well as soon as I accepted the settlement I was "laid off" and blackballed from the industry because of my back.ie; they were scared of reinjury and possible lawsuits. I found a new direction and did as well as I could,by this time a wife and baby were a responsibility. A son with asthma and us without insurance ate what money I did have saved very quickly.I made it ten years before my back failed again and again I believed that all would be well as I had paid into the system and now I could count on help to get fixed up and return to work.The S.S. Administration fought me on every level,and won. I was left in the cold. Through the help of a personal friend I had 100,000 dollars worth of back surgery that helped keep me walking but certainly didn't and couldn't get me in good enough shape to return to work. All through this I have used my down time to volunteer in what ever capacity I can to numerous organizations as I can't stand being idle. As my condition has worsened much of my time is spent in a reclining position or lying down due to pain.Now.... it wasn't my fault that I grew up the way I did. That's just the way it was. It wasn't my fault that I got injured. I must admit at 18 , I was naive to believe that I could count on my employer to do what they said thet would. It isn't my fault that my son has asthma and I never thought twice about spending every dime I had to make sure his needs were met. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary to reinjure myself and was quite fortunate to get 10 yrs of work after my first 2 surgeries. I started paying into the system first at 13 with a part time job, I paid throughout my working days and never asked for anything.When it became necessary to ask, I was turned down several times and again on appeal. Am I a bloodsucker? Are my chidren deserving of better through a system that was supposedly was designed to help people like me? There are an awful lot of good people in this country who have similar or worse stories than mine.There are a lot of people in this country who work for minimum wage and make only a few dollars too much to qualify for help.If these folks take on another job then somewhere along the line, somebody will say that they were never there as a parent and so they obviously failed.Who cares how many kids are homeless in this country? The numbers aren't important. The fact that we have homeless children in this country is a crying shame.The fact that many of these kids won't be taught how to live differently is even worse. I applaud those who came from nothing and succeeded!! But just because it happened for you does not mean that it is possible for everyone. Hey, it would have been nice to have been taught a better way of life as a child, I have done the best I can with what I have and am trying to learn as I go. You can't just categorize all unemployed or homeless people together as deadbeats and slackers. There are so many mentally ill people on the streets that are not capable of holding down a job, is it their fault? Because of mental illness, many of these people self medicate with alcohol. It is so very easy for some to say that these people don't want real help.You know what? most of them don't have a clue as to what their needs really are! What about all of those who paid so faithfully into Enron retirement plans? Will they be labled deadbeats when they need help? Yeah it's probably their fault that they got ripped off! How dare them now go to the system that they have paid into for years and ask for help!So easy it is for some to stand in judgement.It doesn't matter what political party you belong to, as they have bled into whatever gets the vote so we now have "Repulicrats and Democricans" with both feeding off of the poor. It's a crying ass shame that somewhere , some multimillion dollar farming corporation will get subsidies compliments of our Government and I couldn't get my medical needs taken care of to try to be self sufficient. Or some somebody will get a 75,000 dollar grant to study the mating habits of the dung beetle when more children are added to the homeless list every day. I'm so happy for those of you that are doing well and admire your ability to do so. But lets not let the fact that you made it (By Gods Grace)dictate how you view everybody else. Some are not going to succeed no matter how hard they try. Sometimes bad things happen to good people.Until I got hurt, I had an opinion of all of "Those People" and now I am one of them.I could go on for eternity but I think that it's time to stop and pray now, not for me and my circumstances but for those of you who don't seem to have much of a heart, for in that way My riches far outweigh that which you possess!
Peace,
Chuck