Call this a rant or a request, it's time I got something off my chest. Charity is all well and good, however, what happens when it's you that needs the charity this time of year?
You are probably wondering that yourself...
There was an instance at work this week, where we were requested to contribute $10 for a lunch at work, with any leftover money to be donated to a couple of local families in need for Christmas. I didn't participate, because if I had, based on their wish lists that had been circulated, then they would have had a better Christmas than me. Is that fair? No...charity begins at home, and in my case, since I don't have anything for Christmas, then I don't need to be contributing to someone else. By the way, we got an email at work that their wish lists were filled, along with $250 in food for the holidays...
Things are bad enough with my situation. Because I pay my child support (no arrears, in fact, I have overpaid $5,000 in the last 3 years...good luck trying to get that back...), and I work regularly, I am penalized by the "system", and having to do without. What's worse is, my kids are expecting something nice from me, and it just won't happen. Their mom has basically forced me to "keep up with the Joneses", which I haven't been able to do. Do I see the kids? Yes, but not as often as the court order says. I don't blame them I guess...they would rather stay at their Mom's, where they have everything. Courtesy of my support, of course.
What really gets you down, is when you hear on the radio after a hard day at work, 4 days before Christmas, that MPPs have voted themselves a 25% increase in their salary...wow, what I would like to do with a $22,000 a year increase!! I would settle for half that, so I can get out of debt from the split with my ex...but, living pay to pay, that will never be. It's sad, but in order to have my support reduced to something in line with my pay, I have to have money to fight it.
The reason for this post is simple...I figure that out of all the times I have contributed to everyone else to improve their comforts and holidays, I might as well ask the world to do the same for me.
Would I like to have a nice Christmas for the kids? Most definitely...but under the current circumstances, it won't happen, unless my numbers come in for the lottery. Even then, you need to buy a ticket to win!
Feel free to make a donation...for once in my life, I would like to say that my Christmas spending on my kids actually met the Canadian Average for Christmas spending...this year it's $930. Maybe if I have a good Christmas for the kids, they will come down more.
Merry Christmas everyone, and all the best for the Holiday Season.
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