Maybe it is the lack of sleep, but I've been really thinking about the way people around me lead their lives lately. Not my friends, just the variety of people buzzing in and out of my life vaguely.



I worked for two days at Arlington Food Lion as a fill-in cashier. This Food Lion is in a very bad neighborhood, and makes over 50% of it's gross from EBT(Electronic Benefit Transfer.. in other words; Government issued Food Stamps.)



What I've seen the past two days has sickened me. Not the fact there are poor people, because by all means I am not a millionaire or prophet by any stretch of the imagination (I'm in fact homeless living in my friend's house barely making above minimum wage trying to scrape through school.); what struck me was the energy and manner by which the cliental carried themselves.


I can't tell you how many times I heard mother's (younger than me) tell their herds of children, "We can get candy, don't worry, it's FREE money!" I'm sorry, but there is no such thing as "FREE money".


Things just don't manifest out of nowhere upon their own will without any logical source or origin!!! That's the rule of nature, the Universe-- and frankly God!


So, I decree that Economics follows suit!
Money comes from somewhere; some one is paying for that candy for those mothers!! And the joke is; due to the confines of Economic Law, where there is no such thing as "something for nothing", where money is in fact numbered; those single mothers have in fact become indebt to this fact. They can not receive without giving, thus there is a debt on their head which inclines itself to be paid in full.


As I've watched these individuals I've become all to aware of what exactly it is they are trading to relinquish their debts. It has stunned and bothered me to the core. What they are giving back in return goes beyond the reality that 500 pound women feed their children nothing but starches and sugars; all foods that make you feel full, minus the nutritional value, thus it gives you the illusion of comfort and plentifullness when there is little. It is miles beyond the fact that old men try to beg for cheap booze when they can't buy food, and the fact that these people NEVER say thank you when you assist them, or loan them an extra dollar from your pocket to help them afford formula, or the fact that they expect these donations from their cashier, as though they were entitled to it.


It is beyond all that, yet I can sum up my horror very simply, within these words: The children would always look up at their mothers with pride and gleefully shriek, "Yeah, mama! It's FREE money!"

Want to comment on this Blogs? Sign up to Edit Red and you will be able to comment on Blogs and get access to: Upload your own stories and poems, get readers and their feedback, promote your work...