The 47% Up Close and Personal

                I opened the door with some hesitation.  I was greeted with a smile and a good word – “Would you like your room freshened up?”  The hotel employee – often called maid – was trying to make my stay comfortable and pleasant.  I spoke with her for a few moments.  She was married and her husband was a construction worker.  She had two children – one was in a subsidized pre-school and the other was a first grader.  She worked hard and took pride in changing and making beds, emptying waste baskets, vacuuming rugs, putting on new rolls of toilet paper and handling dirty towels.  She was one face of the 47%.

                The distinctive aroma of convalescent home filled my nostrils as I into walked to Bill’s room.  Bill was a retired school teacher who had educated our children and paid his local, state and federal taxes faithfully.  It seems that the health care costs of first his deceased wife and now his own had consumed all his assets.  He was receiving something that to him was an embarrassment – Medicaid.  He would never complain about healthcare costs and would only say that he had lived too long. He never saw himself as a victim.   He had done so much in giving meaning to so many young lives yet now he saw his life as meaningless.  He was one of the largest group (the aging) of the 47%.

                He was neatly stacking the cereal boxes on the shelf.  I had asked him where to find my gluten free Rice Chex.  He pointed to a shelf about a 1/3 of the way down the aisle from him.  I made some comment about his geographic knowledge of the store.  My words apparently opened a stream of pain.  He was quick to tell me that he wasn’t really a super market shelf expert but rather a laid off marketing “guy.”  He did feel he was a victim of a false economy that led to the major recession that took his job.  “Just trying to feed my family until a job it my field comes along.  It took a long time for the bottom to drop out.  I’m afraid it will take a long time until things get straight again.”  His broken soul was easily seen.  He was one of the 47%.

                He sat in my office with a glazy stare.  He was asking for financial assistance, surely a church in Greenwich could afford a few hundred dollars to help his family through tough times.  His story could have been the story of hundreds of Iraq War veterans.  Let’s try post traumatic stress syndrome.  He was on veteran’s assistance but he couldn’t make ends meet.  He had served proudly and put his life at risk for his country.  He was one of the 47%. 

                Some of the 47% are takers – a very small minority.  Most wish they could pay federal taxes because their incomes would then be high enough to live the American dream – maybe even make a six-digit salary.  But who then would clean the rooms and stock the shelves and sit in long term care facilities feeling embarrassed that life had come to this because of healthcare costs?

Blessed are the poor in spirit because they are humble enough to know that they need to do everything possible to bless the poor.

In Christ,    Bob

P.S. It might be interesting to check out the small percentage who are taking advantage of the system – some may look like the incorrect but classic stereotype.  Yet an equal number might look like high rollers who “massage” the lucrative tax breaks they receive.    

P.S. S. About 20,000 households who made over $500,000 are part of the 47%.  How come I pay more than 13% in federal taxes and don’t make 1/5 of those 47%.  I guess I need a better tax accountant.