Disabled and disdained
In rural America, some towns are divided between those who work and those who don’t
GRUNDY, Va. — Five days earlier, his mother had spent the last of her disability check on bologna, cheese, bread and Pepsi. Two days earlier, he had gone outside and looked at the train tracks that wind between the coal mines and said, “I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this.” One day earlier, the family dog had collapsed from an unnamed illness, and, without money for a veterinarian, he had watched her die on the porch. And now it was Monday morning, and Tyler McGlothlin, 19, had a plan.
“About time to go,” said his mother, Sheila McGlothlin, 57, stamping out a cigarette.
“I’m ready,” Tyler said, walking across a small, decaying house wedged against a mountain and strewn with dirty dishes, soda cans and ashtrays. They went outside, stepping past bottles of vodka his father had discarded before disappearing into another jail cell, and climbed a dirt path toward a housemate’s car.
He knew his plan was not a good one. But what choice did he have? He had looked inside the refrigerator that morning, and the math didn’t add up. Five people were living in the house, none of whom worked. It would be 17 days before his mother received another disability check and more food stamps. And the refrigerator contained only seven eggs, two pieces of bologna, 24 slices of Kraft American cheese, some sliced ham and one pork chop.
It had to be done.
Tyler would hold a sign on the side of the road and beg for money. He would go to a town 30 miles down the road and stand at one of the region’s busiest intersections, where he prayed no one would recognize him, to plead for help from people whose lives seemed so far removed from his own.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/local/2017/07/21/how-disability-benefits-divided-this-rural-community-between-those-who-work-and-those-who-dont/?utm_term=.0ff1b660560e
It's quite a story and worth a read. There are people like this all over America.
= new reply since forum marked as read
No worries, he'll be driving a BMW by the end of the month. 
is a religious belief among some Christians, who hold that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one's material wealth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology
God wanted them to be rich. Oh and of course it's because they work hard and everyone else is lazy and stupid.
The article is mainly about the divide among people who live in the same areas. The ones who have good jobs are encouraged to look down on the ones who don't. It's the thinking of many Trumpsters who want to cut benefits for their own neighbors.
Going back and reading this subthread, I see that the way you responded to my original comment confused me, compounded by this gin I've been drinking since making that comment, which is why you might feel like we're talking in circles. We're on the same page. The photo in the OP haunts me. The photo of the asshole next to the father of the guy in the OP photo fills me with rage.
outside a kwik trip........I didn't know what to do. 
