All I am reflecting on now is this FINES proposed.
We live this life because it is where we landed post crisis. We are doing just fine and have stretched money like no other.
I have learned how to make shampoo...not because I wanted to have some in a end of the world scenario, but because I could not rush out to buy shampoo. I learned how to make deodorant for the same reason...and I have teens(deodorant is a needed commodity). I learned how to make cheese, because I love pizza...and missed it.
I learned how to make skirts, not because I only wear skirts, but I then have new clothing for almost nothing(combining this with the thrift store purchases). I learned how to make dish scrubbies, as I could no longer throw out old ones. I learned how to hand wash clothes and hang them to dry, as the washer and dryer use too much energy and well, died. I learned how to butcher a chicken, not because I am wanting only free range chicken...no it is because then we eat chicken. I learn to augment our diet with eggs to ensure teens have protein...not because I am a health nut no...because if I don't some days we are light on meat.
We sometimes play brownout days to reduce the electric bill. Life becomes a game to make things cheerful instead of gloomy.
We processed 47,500 apples to bring home extra money...all by hand and it takes on average 154 apples per box that you see in the grocery. This work is manual labor...and I am stronger for it, but we were paid .50 a box- you do the math. One does work like this because they need to.
So now I will tell you why I am SICK...If I could afford an additional 3600 a year my family WOULD have medical insurance. We can't therefore we don't have insurance. Now don't you go off and judge us. We have only gone to the doctor when extreme needs, and we paid off each visit in payments. In a catastrophic crisis- well let me humor you, just because you have coverage DOES NOT mean you will retain it in a major illness. I know far too many who lost it because of this...so
Forcing me to pay a fine, will put me or my husband in jail. We cannot afford an additional 4000.00 debt. By the way we had top notch medical insurance a few years ago...when my husband was injured we had the option for Cobra...one cannot get Cobra when the income is cut drastically.
I am and have been out of sorts because the legislation that is ongoing is scaring the he*l out of me. I no longer recognize my nation. By the way the solution IS NOT UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE...
Will I blog much longer? I am losing my energy. I am trying to be upbeat, but wonder which parent will they charge when we do not get health coverage? The mother? The father? Why on earth is this something I have to worry about is beyond me. I work so hard to make sure our family is above water...only to feel the vise above my head.
Where is my refuge? Where is the nation in the world that has open arms and says to me
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
I am tired, I am poor and I am yearning to breathe ...which nation can take me in, when my own nation fails? Who in the world can do what our nation has done for so long?
No one and that is why I am weary.
