This marks day 3 of my adoption of "The Mom Pledge" and my first experience with The Thoughtful Thursday Blog Hop. And providence dropped a secondary topic of "should restaurants be allowed to accept food stamps" in my lap when I came across this post on the BlogHer site.
From the Mom Pledge
"I believe a healthy dialogue on important issues is a good thing. I will welcome differing opinions when offered in a respectful, non-judgmental manner. And will treat those who do so in kind."
I so liked the comment I left on that blog that I was just going to copy and paste, only to find out that the blog's comments are moderated and it disappeared once I hit "send". (Can you hear me groaning now?)
The writer of that blog - "Headmistress, zookeeper" as she is known in the comments - has very strong opinions on most subjects. Many of the people commenting did, too. These are not the kind of people with whom I tend to hang out. But in general, I do not judge people for their opinions, even when I disagree. The debate there was at once lively, interesting, and at times a little distressing. But I am better-informed for having gone and read the post and comments.
Hunger is an important issue. If you have experience real hunger (as opposed to hunger from dieting) ... you know it sucks. Well, hunger from dieting isn't much better, but at least you have a positive outcome (better health) waiting at the end of that tunnel. But using SNAP benefits (food stamps) at restaurants? Even as someone whose family current receives SNAP (another story for another day), I cannot see how in the vast majority of cases this would provide real benefit to anyone other than the restaurant industry. I'm sure times are tough for restaurateurs too, but SNAP is intended to ensure low-income individuals and families have enough food to ... survive.
Please...let me know what you think, whether or not you agree with my opinion. Let's work ... together ... to figure this out and our world (or our little corner of it) a better place.
