"Robin King" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:"GaryG" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
| Just then, as we got closer to them, they turned into a parking lot
and
| stopped their scooters. It was then that we noticed that both were
very
| obese. At the same moment, they both took out packs of cigarettes
and each
| lit up a smoke.
|
| In an instant, my sympathy for their plight turned to irritation...I
saw my
| tax dollars going up in smoke, while the two of them sat on the
high-priced
| scooters that were enabling their poor lifestyle choices.
|
| GG
But why? Many fashion models smoke as a way of keeping
their weight down; are you irritated at their lifestyle choices?
Robin
I don't like smokers...period. They're stupid, and they stink. But, if
someone wants to smoke, and they're paying for it with their own money, I
don't have a quarrel with that.
But, the two women I saw were quite obviously "on disability"...thus, my tax
dollars had been used to pay for their electric scooters, and (indirectly)
for their cigarettes. The fact that I'm forced to subsidize their poor
lifestyle choices is indeed irritating to me...there are many things I'd
prefer my tax dollars to be used for.
That said, there are no easy answers here. I'd like my taxes to help people
who are truly in need, but discerning the difference between "true need" and
"stupid lifestyle" need is not always an easy call to make.
GG
