curve ball

  "Never look down on someone unless you're helping them up."
When I did a brief stint working for HUD I had hundreds upon hundreds of clients in just one little town. And I knew that if I had that many, the much larger city just south of me had thousands. It could've been so easy to look across my desk and to tell my clients that if they'd just go back to school, or if they'd just get a job, or if they'd just stop having kids... ugh or any of those other hurtful stereotypical responses that spew from so many. I'm not completely blind to the fact that yes there are those who do abuse the system. They exist and they cast a negative shadow on the establishment of assistance. Those that have no desire to better themselves, or those that feel an entitlement of sorts. Personally I do not understand the mindset of said individuals, however I do understand that there are those who are truly in need of assistance.
I had elderly clients whose retirement savings were just not enough to get by. I had disabled individuals whose bodies betrayed them from earning income. I had clients who had found themselves with nowhere to turn. I had clients that consisted of all types of ethnicities and familial make-up. There was no status-quo. I received phone calls everyday from people losing their jobs and their homes. People that had never needed assistance before in their lives were now on the other side of my desk.
And now it is on the other side of that desk I could easily find myself. Three years ago I had a very ungraceful and unfortunate accident which has left me with a most inconvenient back injury. Thirty plus procedures later and the doctors have uttered the words "permanently disabled."  Since I was 14 I've held numerous jobs and careers. I have two collegiate degrees, yet all because of one ten second event I have been unable to work for the last three years. I stay on a concoction of narcotics and muscle relaxers because "all we can do is make you comfortable." And while the State, the insurance companies, and the lawyers continue to fight everything out, I have found that my retirement was not enough for me to stop working at 31.
I write this blog entry not for pity because despite what the doctors have said I have hope.I have to have it. I write this because I have seen so many posts recently putting others down and I just want to remind people that you never know about the curve ball life may throw you. I write this because the next time you drive by a government housing development, or you see someone paying with their EBT card, or you see someone coming out of the health department, I want you to think of what "curve ball" must have occurred in  that person's life instead of putting them down. You never know when you might end up on the other side of the desk. And really, is it that hard to just be kind to each other?