Gooooood Morning SuperForest!
Wouldn’t it be cool if the government liked me and my activities so much that they decided to buy me all the food I wanted? Wouldn’t it be grand if the state of Hawaii subsidized me, because I was a humanitarian and an artist, and because they didn’t want me to have to get a job?
That’s exactly what has happened. I’m on food stamps.
Because I don’t have a job and am not making any money, the state of Hawaii gave me a credit card that gets refilled monthly. I get $280.00 a month to spend on food, simply because I asked for it. It won’t last forever, but it’s working now, and I can spend my $280 wherever I want.
So basically, I don’t have to work, get supported by the government, and can buy local, organic food and put that governmental cash right into the local economy, instead of into the war machine.
It’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.
It started simply enough. Mea and Augustine are both on food stamps, and Augustine one day sat me down and hipped me to the benefits of the system. My initial reaction was varied. I observed some feelings running through my head that were mostly negative in nature.
“My mother will kill me.”
“Food stamps are for poor people and losers.”
“Food stamps are low class.”
I was able to recognize these thoughts as pure conditioning, and so I made an appointment with the human services office on the island. I went in, filled in some paperwork and made a second appointment to meet with my case worker. I went in a second time and met with a kind and wonderful woman. I told her the total truth. That I lived on a friend’s land, doing a work trade in exchange for rent. I have no full time job, nor steady source of income, nor am I planning on getting a job any time soon.
She handed me a debit card. That was it. Done. I was on food stamps.
The first time I used the card, I had so many butterflies in my stomach. Would it work? Would they laugh at me? Scorn me? Deride me? Kick me out? Would they smell my rich kid upbringing on me? Would my white, straight teeth give me away as a fake poor person? Fear. Judgments.
Nope. I gathered up some lovely groceries. Local Kauai beef, veggies, kale, raw fudge, juice. I took them to the counter. A lady rang me up. I handed her my EBT (food stamps) card and she swiped it. I punched in my PIN number and we waited while the machine went bleep blorp boop. She then handed me my receipt.
That was it. I had used my food stamps to buy groceries. Something I’ve done many times since then, as I’ve been on them for three months.
Isn’t that amazing? I am sponsored by Obama! Barack buys me burritos. !!!
Once I’d gotten over my negative conditioning about getting assistance from the state, I was free to… receive assistance from the state! In the form of money for food!
I can buy groceries, but not vitamins. Junk food but not alcohol. Salad, but not hot prepared food. And I get to spend the governments money in local businesses, buying local, organic products that make me and my ecosystem a better, healthier place. Win/win/win.
I’ve realized that WE ARE ALL ON FOOD STAMPS. In one form or another. We all have to work in order to buy food and support ourselves.
Job = paycheck = food & shelter.
Job = Food Stamps
Someone signs Barack Obama’s paycheck, and the American people provide him and his family with shelter. Well, now my friend Jesse provides me shelter, and the state of Hawaii provides me food. My full time job is SuperForesting, and it’s the best job I can imagine.
Try it for yourself. What if you quit your job and went on public assistance? What if you moved in with a relative and did a work trade in exchange for a room? What if you spent your days gardening, and your food situation was taken care of? How would that feel? What would you do with all your time?
This is the system we must create for all humans. Free food and shelter and communication. Free education. Freedom from oppression and fascism. Free medical care.
Free to do as you please.
Love,
Jackson
(top image via shantipoet)
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