Living on the poorer side of town has enabled me to see two kinds of people living on welfare. One is the genuinely needy who are proud and do not really ask for more than they are entitled to. They have their pride and they attempt to raise their children the proper way as best as they can. These are the people that welfare should really be helping and since these are also the kind that will not be asking, they usually fall through the cracks in the system.

Then there is the other extreme of people who are just out to milk the system. These are the ones that make me see red. They eat and live better than I do. I know several who register with more than one of the many food banks around town. To supplement their welfare cheque income, they sell the food that they collect from food banks.

With all that money, they can afford to eat at diners when I have to pack my own lunch. They can afford cable with all the movie channels when I have to make do with just the basic. They can afford to drink and gamble at the Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) when I who work full time at minimal wage can hardly afford anything after paying my rent and utilities.

I am not judging people on welfare because I know that those who legitimately need welfare are the first ones who would get out of it if they could. What angers me most is the system which rewards able bodied people who can work by giving them the easy way out. By saying this, I am not even touching on those who use their welfare cheques on substance abuse of which, of course, there are also many to speak about.

Why don't the powers that be who grant those approvals for welfare payment come and check on their payees and see the kind of life they are living? Why should I be contributing towards a losing cause with tax from my hard earned income? I wonder how the welfare office can be blind towards the fact that their attempt to help these people has been made into a mockery of the system.

If the office could send someone down to any of the convenience stores on the poorer side of town after payday', they would see the difference between needy and needy'. Food banks should also have a system where they do not act as rivals for providing goodwill and act hand in hand to weed out those illegitimate needy' who are registered with more than one charity. With them out of the way, the really needy ones would get better rations too.

The welfare system is very good but it just has too many holes and the ones who really need help are the first ones to fall through. Poor people are definitely people and they are the ones who hold their heads up high, not resorting to help until absolutely necessary.

Learn more about this author, Khim Leclair.
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