This blog from someone in the Phoenix Rising Forums illustrates some of the decisions that confront people who have the misfortune to be both unhealthy and poor. What does one do, for instance, when one only has a few dollars left at the end of the month for some stew and an onion costs 75 cents. Shouldn’t everyone be able to have a simple onion with their bean stew? How easy it would be just to pocket it….
You see, July and August are both 31 day months and it will become clear in a moment just how this plays into my near crime spree. Those of us on disability really hate 31 day months. That’s a whole extra day to keep yourself fed.
I don’t know why I didn’t take into consideration the 31 day month when I bought the $4.00 flypaper (another story) but I didn’t. And, as it turns out, the flypaper is not useful for the pests for which I bought it which are not flies.
So, here I sat with 3 rolls of unopened, useless to me, flypaper, one open and slightly unspooled roll - they are boxed as 4 - in a 31 day month! Then it hit me - I could return the flypaper with a lie about it being faulty! Yes, yes, faulty flypaper is a stretch, I know.
Anyway, common sense aside, what are the ethical implications of returning flypaper, even three usable rolls, if you’d have to lie about the reason? On the other hand, $4.00 is $4.00 and the cupboard is very nearly bare.
Happily for my Karma, I could not find the receipt! Whew! I don’t know what the karmic cost for returning flypaper under false pretenses is but, whatever it is, I don’t need it.
So, armed with what was left of my monthly stipend: $4.76, I ventured across the street to the drab ‘Value Mart’. Now, doesn’t that sound like it should be an inexpensive place to shop? It’s called “Value” and it’s not the least little bit fancy or charming or anything else that might give one pause. That’s how they getcha - you don’t know what’s happening ’til you get to the checkout.
Figuring a big pot of chili could be fashioned from the rice I had and the canned veg I could buy, I searched among the loose onions for the smallest one. This, in itself was an interesting exercise.
Many of the small onions had soft spots and an ever so slight blush of mold and were quite light so would be cheaper. I thought about whether buying a bad onion would make sense and couldn’t figure it out so I chose a nice, firm, heavy but small onion which I handed to the young man, unpacking impossibly red and enormous (and probably tasteless) strawberries from God knows where, and asked him to weigh it so that I would know it’s price. My onion would be about 75 cents. “75 cents!”, I said, “For an onion?!” He smiled. None who work there would be foolish enough to shop there.
This brings me to the point, if it can be called a point, of this seemingly endless rant. I thought about stealing that onion. It was only the realization that, knowing me, there was a very real danger that I would find myself back there later in the day “confessing” some cock-and-bull story about how I just happened to find an onion in my pocket, probably stuck to flypaper, that stopped me.
Two crimes averted today. No onion, though. Ah well, never mind, there was a lovely loaf of flax bread in the day old shelf! Score! And, when I returned home I discovered that I have three more eggs than I thought! (Egg fairy? We’ll never know.)
Stomach 1 ~ Karma 1
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5 comments
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Sweety, you don’t have to have a reason to return things, just the reciept. You can tell them you didn’t like it, it didn’t work, you bought by mistake, you thought it was something else or you can simply say, “I don’t want it”. Enough said.
You have outlined the bottom line for all of the crime we have by the poor. The chronic desperation, pain, and humiliation inherent in poverty leads to the terrible weighting between ethics and needs. I know that side heavy scale of justice. And the deliberate focus our culture has in making those who are disabled and poor feel like malingerers. Less than. Unworthy.
Hell, they makes us feel like scum. The processes of getting government help, disability, and food stamps are designed to make it impossibly demoralizing, forces one into losses that are unconscionable, and eventually can kill due to lack of resources. Over 45,ooo die in our country yearly from lack of health insurance. Let alone the numbers of us with ME/CFS that have died because of the arrogance and sexism of the CDC, Government, Researchers, and practicing physicians.
Although I do not recommend stealing, there are consequences that can complicate one’s life. I do believe, if we live in a society that does not take responsibility for it’s sick and poor, then there may come times, that in order to survive, we don’t tell the whole truth.
I am reminded of the story of The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Anderson. If it was a matter of survival would you have that freezing child break into a building and sleep there? Such are the circumstances that others greed and indifference have created. Some may call this situational ethics. It is, but if you had a child or were your own child what would you do?
I would think that a God of love would break that darned window. I would too.
Food banks are available in most towns where you can get kitchen staples and meals.
If not, churches often have programs that feed the hungry. Please take advantage of them. I have and I will again.
Blessings and Peace.
What beautiful writing about such an ugly situation.
Where’s Robin Hood when you need him?
Oh the systems we have created that don’t provide enough for everyone to have adequate housing, food and medical care. That stores that aim their products at people with not as much money charge so much more. I just bought a 10 lb bag of onions for $2.50 - that onion should be about 10 cents.
And the outrageousness of having to try to cope with any of this when most of our faculties aren’t working well. It would be challenging to manage when all systems are go.
Two small crimes, according to your high ethical standards, avoided today. Two major crimes, inadequate disability amounts and stores that make exhorbitant profits off the poor, outstanding.
Yes, 45,000 people die every year because the US is the only developed nation in the world that does not provide health insurance to everyone; that, in my opinion, is criminal negligence on our nations part. That people are forced into penury through no fault of their own partially because the medical community chooses to ignore their condition says something about our nations priorities. The US medical system provides great opportunities for those who are able to access its riches but astonishing negligence for those whos illnesses don’t provide its researchers a ready ticket to success. There’s something very wrong with it.
Cort, thank you so much for sharing this amazing story. The person who wrote it is strong and courageous and even has a sense of humor - incredible!
This really puts things into perspective. I’m constantly worried about our ever-increasing medical expenses, how to pay for our son’s braces next year, etc….but we have good (though expensive!) health insurance and my husband has a good job. We eat well, and I have never had to worry about whether I could afford an onion. I’ve even been worried about the health care bill the House passed (though I support it) because it will reduce our Flexible Spending Account limit from $5000 to $2500.
I see now just how good we have it and how fortunate we are. It’s all relative, isn’t it? Thanks for opening my eyes.
Sue
She is a great writer and we’re lucky to have her on the Phoenix Rising Forums. It is good to appreciate what we have that’s for sure. There’s a huge group of people who have been pushed to the very edge financially by this disease - talk about stress!
My reaction to the story was not moral but more pragmatic; what if she got caught? For someone with severe MCS spending a night or two or whatever in jail could be a devastating situation. Then there are the possible fines - another potentially big problem. Maybe that wouldn’t happen for an onion but there are alot of different potential ‘onions’ out there. Getting caught could be a real problem!