* <<G3S.0730>> Deserve's got nothing to do with it.
When you say,

 No one gets a hand-out; I worked hard to get where I am, and so
should everyone else.

..what you're really saying is that young people starting-out, or
adults trying for a new start, maybe refugees or immigrants, or,
maybe even just people who don't have the same kinds of ambitions
that you do, people who serve drinks or answer phones or move boxes
around in a warehouse, and who do that work to pay the bills so that
they can spend the rest of their time enjoying their lives, raising
their families, or writing novels, or contributing to the scholarship
on an obscure subject — those people don't deserve to live as well
as you. They don't deserve to go to the movies. They don't deserve to
eat at nice restaurants. They don't deserve a good car, or a nice
apartment. They don't deserve healthcare. They don't deserve good
post-secondary education. They don't deserve these things, because
they haven't earned them.

People who live in poverty deserve to live in poverty, because they
haven't gotten out of it yet.

People who don't have healhcare don't deserve healthcare. Only the
people who can afford it deserve it.

Only those who can afford to go to college deserve to go to college.

Young people starting out;
Older people making a new start;
Immigrants, maybe refugees,
Coming here with nothing
And wanting to build a better life;
People who make sandwiches,
People who answer phones,
Or load trucks, or wash dishes;
Cleaners — lots of cleaners;
People that mop-up piss from restroom floors;
That clear beer cans and dog shit
From our childrens' playgrounds,
People who may not speak much English,
But who work all day clearing debris
From construction sites, so that workers
Can get around more easily,
And more safely;
People that mind shops;
People that pick fruit;
People that sort garbage;
People that sort mail;
People that do these things
Because they don't mind doing them,
Because it lets them live their lives,
Raise their kids,
Write their novels;

How arrogant are you to say to them,
"No hand-outs. Work harder."
How conceited, to say that you
deserve all that you have.
To say that you worked hard for it
Is to say that others haven't;
Or at least to say that your work was important
And theirs wasn't.
Reproachful!
To say that the people who work
The small jobs don't deserve
To eat well, to dress well,
To have homes they are proud of,
To see shows, to start businesses,
To drive a good car,
To attend a good school,
To have straight teeth, good glasses,
To see a doctor when they're sick
And have their prescriptions filled.

--
Excerpted from:

PUBLIC NOTES (G)
http://alph.laemeur.com/txt/PUBNOTES-G
©2016 Adam C. Moore (LÆMEUR) <[email protected]>