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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (57182)	7/31/2004 12:59:05 AM
From: Neeka	Respond to of 793725

You've come a long way baby! I lived next door to the "projects" here in Seattle until I was 8. My father finished the 8th grade, went to work for himself and never looked back. I don't remember him ever working for someone else. I do remember him sitting in our attic rebuilding alternators at night after coming home from a long day of work at a little auto repair shop he owned. Mom stayed home with the kids and made sure we didn't stray too far into the projects. I went to school with many project kids, but they moved so often that it was hard when we were friends, but I was always so excited for those who got the opportunity to move on. My paternal grandparents always owned their own business. My maternal grandfather worked as a lineman for the local utility company all of his adult life. One theme that was repeated endlessly by my parents and all of my grandparents was that we must never rely on government assistance. If we lost a job, we went out directly and found another....no job was too demeaning. If we were down and out, the family would provide. I was lucky. I would never deny assistance when and where it is genuinely needed. I don't think the US government would either, and I believe there are plenty of programs that have been developed over the years to address the various social issues. I have met several individuals that think government should pay for every little problem that arises in their lives, and I don't know how to counter those claims other than to say as delicately as possible that personal responsibility resides within each of us, we only have to find it. The example you gave is a horrible situation...one that I believe is fostered by greed and ignorance. I wish our the system did a better job of catching those at risk, and helped them utilize the social programs that have been developed for them. But until human nature changes people will unfortunately fall through the cracks. In this case the children must be saved.....and isn't it great that they most likely will be saved. M