They are so ****ing whiny!
In my 40's, after spending the bulk of my life as a SAHM and homeschooling mom, I decided to be a farmer. I'm not making a huge fortune but because I voluntarily took myself out of the labor market in my 20's I had to be creative. It took quite some time to start earning any money from it. Mostly because of poor decisions or inexperience on my part. But, unlike people like you who give up in these situations, I used them as a learning experience.
The fact that you struggle financially is due to the way you manage your money, not what you earn. There are plenty of websites that will teach you how to do this for free. You might try a program like Dave Ramsey's to better learn how to budget. Of course, it you're not willing to exercise self discipline nothing will work. While money was often tight, we managed to live well in a 2 income world on 1 income. Many of our friends lived in huge, expensive (to us) houses while we lived in the same small house for most of our lives. But it was a choice and I don't regret it for a minute. As it turned out, we were living on a goldmine with a mortgage that was almost paid off. The guy that bought it paid full price and it's why we have this beautiful home in the country in an area I've wanted to live in since I was a little girl. Evidently, being frugal, saving money and paying our bills on time was a good decision.
You can have compassion and be conservative. As a matter of fact, conservatives give more to charity than liberals, evidenced by the tax returns of plugs and the boy king. Compassion means giving back to your community or to causes you believe in. While being so narrow minded, you can't think of it as charity, many of us give to our churches. A good deal of that money goes towards missions that help the very poor in countries like Africa. We provide food, education (NOT just religion but reading, math, hygene, etc.) and teaching useful skills, like farming, so they can support themselves. It doesn't have anything to do with bringing people down to your level (of income). The more you make, the more you're able to give. It has nothing to do with saying pretty words on some Internet message board. We decided to give a specific percent of our income to various causes we care about, thus the more our income rises so too does the amount we're able to give.
Just about every corporation has 1 or more foundation (including the Koch brothers who have 4). Having money allows them to make block grants to nonprofits that do help others. Thanks to capitalism, if you work hard (hard enough to be noticed by your boss or having excellent yearly reviews) you can advance in your company. Not only will this help you earn more (so you can give more) the work their employees do helps to make the profits that contribute to those foundations. Of course, you have to think of work as a career instead of just a job (until you quit, get fired or hope socialism kicks in so that lazy & whiny becomes a lifestyle choice). There's been plenty of McDonald's crew kids who worked their way up until they were able to buy their own franchise. Instead of seeing a low wage job, they saw an opportunity.
And giving doesn't have to be financial. You can do things like taking clothes you no longer wear, ones your children have outgrown, toiletries (available at the $1.00 store), etc. to a women's shelter. Donate books you've read and DVD's you no longer watch to the USO. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. If you have a garden then you can "grow a row for the homeless" (ours also includes the poor). Because the produce is fresh, it stays in your local community which helps your neighbors. But when all you do is bitch and moan about how it's a mean world, instead of being proactive and being a good model for others, then you're not practicing what you preach. Compassion requires action.
Cindie
