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Storytime Tapestry Newsletter The newsletter devoted to
spreading love and cultural awareness around the world. Carol?s Corner Rotten Tomatoes Carol Roach ?Not to worry, come with me.? I will show all the best places to get some
food.? Tomorrow I will take you to the mission,
then on Wednesday we?ll go to St. Anthony?s, and every second Friday we can go
to The Good Sheppard, they give meat!? Oh
how can I forget Harvest House?? Err, it
may not be that easy for you to get some food there; they expect you to have
young children,? my friend Mary explained as she furrowed her brow. ?You got this all worked out to a science,? I said
jokingly. ?Of course!? A
mother has to do what she can do to feed her family.?? She said with pride. I admired her determination to feel pride in feeding her
family at all cost, but I knew that I could never share in that pride.? I could not help but feel ashamed that I was
reduced to accepting charity.? All my
life I had worked hard and gave to charity and now I was on the other end of
the stick. I had an education, far better than most people in my ghetto
neighbourhood.? I had recently completed my masters in Counselling Psychology
and I was having trouble finding a job. In the interim, I knew I couldn?t wait
until the perfect job came along. I had to pay my rent and feed myself and pay
my bills.? So I did what most people did.
I started taking telemarketing jobs, just to make ends meet. Most of you may not know that the life of a telemarketer,
an honest telemarketer, is not a great one.??
We are faced with the pressure of the sale.? Some places are so demanding that if you have
not made a sale at morning?s end of the first day of your job, they fire you on
the spot. Others gave you three days grace. If you were lucky some of the nicer
places gave you a week or two to make the quota demanded by the company.? ? That first year, after I graduated in 1999, I was not
doing so well.? I was getting fired from
one job after another.? If I remember
correctly I had had 13 different jobs; the longest lasting for only three
months.? I was tired, I was discouraged
and I was not a good telemarketer, but I was an honest one.? We all knew the people who got ahead and made the sales
were the ones who lied.? I once heard a
guy pretending to be the local telephone company, and someone else boasting
that he worked for a fortune 500 company, neither of which was true, but they
made the sales.? Sometimes the dishonest
ones got fired, and that was how you knew you were working for an honest
company. However, most of the time the companies turned a deaf ear to what was going
on; these guys were the money makers.? There were always two or three of them.? The rest of us were honest and stuck to the
script; we were also the ones to be fired.?
We were a disposable commodity while they were the moneymakers. And so I
was forced to find out how the people in my community survived the harsh life
of the unemployed.? I turned to Mary for help.? She was a childhood friend.? Her parents were alcoholics and lived on
welfare all their lives.? Mary grew up in
a house of 10 siblings.? The boys had a
history of getting into trouble with the law.?
Mary had two older sisters and she was in fact the youngest of the
brood.? Her oldest sister Aurelia was 20
years her senior. Aurelia couldn?t wait to leave the ghetto, her alcoholic
parents, her socially deviant brothers and the very province she lived in without
ever looking back. Mary hardly remembered her.?
The other sister, Catherine was eight years older. Once
she finished high school she went on to college. Though she never completed her
studies, she met her future husband there. He became a successful business man.
?Catherine never had to work a day in her
life.? Though she remained in Mary was the baby and the only sibling to remain faithful
to her family and her roots.? Her loyalty
was not without its sacrifices, living the ghetto life took its tool on her. ?Mary had a learning disability. She was
dyslexic and couldn?t read or write very well.?
She left high school in grade 9 and worked at Macdonald?s and Burger King
for awhile.? Even though she had a small
paycheck, it was attractive enough for her future husband who had no intention
of working himself.? The met because she
used to sneak him free meals. Once married, he preferred to stay home and drink
beer all day while she continued to work; eight years and three children later,
her husband left for another woman.? I
guess she made a bigger salary.?? Once divorced, Mary took as many jobs as she could but it
was difficult, she couldn?t afford a babysitter. Her deadbeat ex husband was still
not working or so he told her. She had reason to believe his new wife forced
him to work but could not prove it.?
There was no money for private detectives or lawyers to fight for child
support.? Yet Mary never lost her spirit
and she would do anything for her three children, including going to food banks
to help supplement their meals. ?Mary I just don?t know if I could do this,? I said.? ?Why are you too proud???
?Pride doesn?t feed a hungry belly, and I am not about to let my babies
starve.? ?Of course not, Mary, you could never do a thing like
that ? no mother could.? ?Well then, we?re going to the food bank tomorrow as
planned. I don?t want to see you refusing any food and shaming me.? I go there all the time.? The volunteers work hard to put the food
together and I am not too proud to take it, and neither should you.? I didn?t say anymore.?
I knew I had hit a nerve with Mary.?
I finally realized that behind that fierce pride of hers was a fear that
she couldn?t support her own children.?
My heart went out to her. The next day, I didn?t complain as we stood in line
outside the building. We were hurdled like cattle waiting for the doors to open
so that we could get our handouts.? I
watched and listened as the community of people waiting, reached out to each
other in brotherhood.? I saw the love and
spirit they shared even while living in abject poverty. ?Hey Joe, good to see you again, someone said.? Sorry I didn?t get to the hospital to see you,
but my wife was sick at home.? ?Yeah, Tim, I heard about that, it?s been hard on you
too.? ?We thought we were gonna lose her for awhile, you
know.? Gave me a right scare.? ?Don?t worry; the old gal has quite a few years left in
her.? You and I will be meeting our maker
long before she does.? *** I didn?t say a word when I handed them proof that I had
lost my job, nor did I say a word when I saw them packaging the goods; over
ripened fruit, most of which I would throw out when I got home and vegetables
that I would have to cook right away or lose them as well. ?Okay, said Mary, tomorrow we go to the next place and
get our box and canned goods for the week.?
They give you three bags full.? ?Mary, would you like to come over for supper.? I have some hamburger meat and I can fix up a
nice spaghetti dinner. ? ?Thanks hon, but it is getting late and Robbie has school
tomorrow.? I put all three of them to bed
at I admired her. She took her station in life in
stride.? Call me arrogant if you may, but I know that I could not
accept the conditions forced upon the poor.?
I could not accept being huddled like cattle outside a building to get
some rotten tomatoes.? There are animals
in our country that live better than these people could ever dream of
living.? According to Stats Cans 2006, single parent mothers had
the highest poverty rate of the nine poverty groups identified in Poverty is not a crime, it is not a disgrace and it is
not an affliction.? It is a condition of
a very apathetic society.? The rich get
richer as the poor get poorer. Karl Marx said this a century ago.? While well over 2,000 years ago, a wondering
rabbi, reminded as that the poor will always be among us.? He took two loaves of bread and five fishes
and created a feast for a multitude.?
There were no rotten fruit there. Everyone was treated equal, rich or
poor. I write about poverty not for people to feel sorry for
me, but to expose the injustices of this world.?
Not every poor person is lazy, most are not.? Mary is an amazing mother.? She takes care of her children, keeps an
immaculate house, works outside the house, and pays her bills on time. She does
not drink or sleep around and does not live above her means, (she still does
not have a computer or cell phone). Yet she must go to the food banks to feed
her children.? I hope that one day when
they are grown up they will realize the sacrifices she has made for them.?? ?? Carol Roach ???????????
Picking up the Pieces: A Woman's Journey: www.publishamerica.com |
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