Making Ends Meet

            
             My Views of Single Mothers and Welfare.
             Over the first few years, the 1996 welfare reform has been .
             a success and more than anyone ever imaged. This has reduced .
             caseloads and also freed up extra funds for the state to use .
             towards education and other projects concerning the state's .
             communities. The reforming of welfare reform is now more .
             capiable of serving the people who may need further assistance, .
             especially to help the women and children that may have gotten .
             lost in the shuffle of paperwork and are facing the risk of losing .
             their safety net.
             I believe poor people are not poor because the rich high .
             class people are keeping them from attaining the dream of the .
             middle-class life. Poor people are in poverity because they have .
             made bad choices in life, and they will continue to make bad .
             choices until we give them a sense of responsibility so they can .
             stand on their own two feet. With the welfare reform I believe .
             people are having to take responsibility for their own actions.
             Last year, I was a part of Habitat for Humanities, and I had .
             taken my son along with me into the ghetto to clean up a park for .
             the neighborhood children. When we got there my son looked at .
             me and asked, "How can they let people live like this?" instead of .
             "Why do people choose to live like this?".
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             No one sneaks into the projects under the cover of darkness .
             to break windows, scatter garbage, spray paint on the walls with .
             profanities or throw old furniture into the front yard. It's a choice, .
             and it's a choice that shows why they live in poverty. Even if we .
             threw millions of dollars toward solving poverty, we would still .
             end up with uneducated and lazy people. I feel the only way to start .
             solving poverty is to educate people and teach them some sort of .
             trade, instead of giving them hand outs. It has been said, "unskilled .
             adults almost always have unemployment rates at least twice the .
             national average.