I have been thinking about some of the articles I have read lately about the poor.  Some are thoughtful and some are down right hateful.  The hate ful are the ones that bother me and I will tell you why.  I am one of the poor and I do not like it and would give anything to be healthy and able to work.  Because I am poor does not mean I am lazy and just want a handout while I sit around and watch soaps.  I have MS, lupus and RA.  They are all painful and they are all causing trouble for my once healthy body.  On the outside I look fine, except my hands are now suffering joint damage causing my fingers to look deformed, my elbows are swollen and a deep pink as are my knees.  My feet are so crippled that I never go barefoot.  I got tired of the remarks and looks.  The lupus has caused me to only have the use of one kidney so I have to watch that.  The MS gives me a weird gait and I can only take small baby like steps.

Where I live across the street a new development has big expensive homes that dwarf the apartment buildings.  They are trying to get the city to tear down the apartments because poor people live in them.  I read the petition and they think we are all criminals just waiting to do hard to them.  They have called the drug house.  There are 12 families that live her, of course there people coming and going.  We are drunk and druggies and of course lazy although everyone just about works two of three jobs.  Last summer we had a picnic and the guys where playing baseball and having a few beers and they called the police because we were playing that kind of music.  It was Rand B and classic rock for heaven sakes .  It was daytime.  These are not run down apartments, we have planted flowers and bushes and garden in the back.  We mow the lawn and paint the trim.  These are our homes and most of us have lived here for years.  I have lived here 12 years , while the homes across the street has been there two years.  It used to be a park until it was bought up and torn down.  They took our park away from the kids so they could put in those big houses.