I was the hard working mans man, I prided myself at being stronger than others at work and I took great pride in how guys would gather around to watch me unload a pallet of microsilica. The stuff came in 100lb bags and I would throw 2 on my shoulder and carry it up 2 flights of stairs to be dumped in the concrete mixer, that was me and I did that kind of work for 25 years. I would come home from my job and hit the bar and complain about how I saw someone buying stuff in the store using food stamps and how mad I got at all the lazy bums there are. I saw a person sitting in the coffee shop I used to stop at on the way to work in the morning, the person was on disability and was complaining that the town was making him pay 10 dollars in residence tax and of course I started yelling about getting of his lazy arse and getting a job so when he had to pay 180 dollars he would know what money was, after all he looked fine, the dirty bum. Well fast forward a few years and I get the best job I ever had, I left the concrete plant as the owner died and his son took over and immediately started a vengence campaign and I was put back on 2nd shift so I left, it was 2006 and I was making $19/hour with great benefits just operating a machine to make plastic wrap. After a year I was getting bad tired, the job was a 7 and 2 swing shift meaning you worked 7 days of 3rd shift and get 2 days off and then 7 days of 2nd shift and 2 days off and the 7 days of day shift and get 3 days off. Well I thought Iwas tied from that but I also got a cold that I couldn't shake, it was 97 degrees outside and I was freezing and my boss told me to go home but I stayed at work and the next day the doctor put me off work until they found what was wrong with me, October of 2007 was the turning point in my life, at 41 years of age I was told I had cancer, I was going to have to go through chemotherapy and radiation and if it doesn't work I would get a bone marrow transplant. Well I go through all the treatment, my short term disability kicked in from work but they took taxes and my medical insurance premiums out of it which left me with $101 per week as my insurance for me and my wife was $85 per week but it covered almost everything except what I had to get at the pharmacy, I was spending $1,280 a month at the pharmacy while getting paid $404 a month. I applied for disability as the doctor told me it would be close to 2 years for me to recovery from the treatment as I was having bad reations to it but I was denied for disability and so to shorten this up I went through my savings and my retirement, I lost my truck and just about everything that meant anything but thank God for my wife, she held me together. Well after the treatment I developed other problems, the bones in my back began to break, it was steroid induced osteperosis which goes away after the steroids stop but because my bones alredy begn to break I'm now kind of stuck with it. With no income and no money I had to apply for welfare, the first time ever, and I remember being in a store and I was paying for milk and eggs with the food stamp card and I over heard someone whisper about the big guy on food stamps, he is a lazy bum and I hope he dies. I'm 6'2" and now weigh 311lbs, I look like I can tear down a house and while I have a thick skin when it comes to people talking smack but that really hurt because I know you can't do or say anything to change what that person thinks. I know because I was that guy, I was the one that judged people from the outside and never ever once considered that someone might have a problem that you can't see, and now God has turned the tables and showed me exactly who I was and how ugly I was and it changed me forever. I still have certain believs but I tore up my voter registration and switched to independent, I did so because the very people I supported now hate me and I can see it in their face and hear it in their voice. Life can be cruel and God has a way of showing you the other side sometimes.
