Grrr. Gimme.

I know you remember me telling you about the tornadoes in my home town. I realized my first post was incomplete, I was so overwhelmed by the news of it all and trying to stay in touch with my family to be sure they were alright, that I never posted a complete post about it.

Physically, they are all safe. My parents lost all the tall trees in their yard, but were so fortunate that none of them caused significant damage to their house. My Nana is safe, but she had a couple of trees come through her roof and damage her attic. The back bedroom has damage, but structurally, the house is salvageable. She also lost most of the trees in her yard, which I'm sad about, since she has been in that house for 55 years and the yard holds as many memories for me as the house does. But, she is safe also.

Why the "Grrr" title, you may ask. Well, I'll tell you why. My parents and Nana both have insurance. They pay for insurance on their property. Each month. Like good citizens. There are people out there grumbling for handouts because they "deserve it" and people like my 83 year old grandmother pay their taxes, pay their insurance premiums and are still waiting on insurance to do their part. Nana is on a fixed income, social security comes each month, she can't afford to pay a contractor to put a new roof on her house all on her own. That is why she pays for insurance. That is her money that the insurance company has not felt the need to come out and give her yet.

So yes. I'll admit it. It upsets me when I see & hear people complaining about the federal government not helping. I know not everyone can afford insurance. I realize that is a fact of life. So I don't think that people with no insurance are not as important as people without insurance. And I don't think that they are more important than the people with insurance. Obviously we are all people and we are all important.

But back to my 83 year old grandmother who has homeowners insurance. Why is she waiting on her insurance company to give her money that is due her? She has done her part. She had tree companies come out to give her quotes on cutting limbs and trees. She had contractors come out and give her quotes on fixing her roof and house. She saved them a step. She is waiting around patiently, while the housing project down the road from her is already being repaired.

That makes me angry. She's elderly, loves her home and still loves her neighborhood. It's also a safety issue at this point, because she can barely see the street anymore from her front window. Thank God my parents are in town to check on her.

She is very independent and has always been such a positive person with tremendous faith. When I spoke to her yesterday she was so down and sounded so sad. She actually said she thought it might be better for everyone if she moved into an assisted living facility. That made me more angry. Simply because the handouts are being addressed before the issues of people who have paid for their insurance companies to take care of them.

After I hung up the phone with her I started noticing that there are some people in our country who just have a handout mentality. Give it to me because I deserve it. Why do you deserve it? Why does anyone deserve it? I pay taxes, I am a good citizen, I have homeowners insurance, car insurance and health insurance. I do my part. Nobody gives me anything for free. Why don't I deserve it?

We celebrated Memorial Day yesterday. We celebrated the sacrifices others made for our freedom. Yes, this is a free country; free meaning we have rights and liberties that other countries do not. It does not mean everything comes at no monetary cost. We must work for what we have. If after working hard and trying to provide for our families we still need help, ok, lets see if we can get some help. But not because we simply deserve it.

(Just for the record, I am not anti-welfare or anti-aid of any kind. I am anti-handout for handout sake. Let's get it straight.)

I am now stepping down off my soapbox, and I am going to call my Nana and see how she is doing today.