The Native Iowan

I am a very generous kinda guy. I grew up the middle kid in a grouping of 9 children. As The Middle Child I got “done” by both sides… The big siblings would complain to mom that I was a nuisance. What ever I had could be easily taken by my elders. The small siblings cried to mom, he won’t play with us, he won’t give to us, he won’t, he won’t… I never ever ever won a battle, an argument, a dispute. Never.

It does me no harm to state that I surely was not my Mother’s favourite. She didnt have time for me, much. The bigger kids were demanding, growing. The younger kids were needy, babies, requiring a lot of attention. I didnt get much attention, er, that is “I didnt get much positive attention”.

I was that kid that got attention by being naughty. Disruptive. Negative attention is better than no attention at all.

By the time I was 8yrsold my eldest 2siblings were in high school. The youngest 2siblings were still babies.

By force, through submission and corporal punishment I learned to be generous. There is/ was nothing I could do but capitulate. I learned to not argue when my elder sister took my nice shirt, or the younger ones took control of something I thought “mine”.

I have found it positive to not put too much importance in “possessions”. I learned to not expect much reward when I did something “good”.

Though I have grown into an adult with a very Zen outlook in life, though I collect and acquire “things”, they are not my definition, my meaning, my purpose. I am very good at building… I build homes, businesses, lifestyles, and positive vibes. I am now-a-days conditioned to share easily all that I build, create, possess. An old line from an old song… “thats how we kept what we gave away”…

And the old line “no good deed goes unpunished” do ring true these days…

I think of being 10. I had just received a pair of “PF Fliers”. PF Fliers were the coolest thing a 10yrold could wear.

I had a new pair, received for my birthday in August. School was starting, I was going to be cool… The neighbour’s house caught fire. A family, “The Fillengers”, with 6 kids got displaced, lost everything. My folks moved them into our house. Johnny Fillenger got my new shoes. I recall how happy he was. My mom hushed my complaints. Told me how needy he was.

Lesson one in the cost of good deeds…

Worldwide a cost for generosity, a cost for good deeds is being levied upon the “developed” Nations that have accepted, taken-in, offered refuge to millions upon millions of displaced “Fillengers”. And the cost is much higher than my $10dollar pair of PF Fliers…

The social and communal and familial fabric of our wester lifestyle is being stretched, tested, damaged.

Not a new topic” https://nativeiowan.com/2024/03/22/2024-v3-lets-dilute-the-middle-classes/

Millions upon millions (Billions) of dollars are being spent of the Fillengers of the planet that are needy, leave their burnt homes with nothing and move in with the neighbours, at the neighbours expense.

The Fillengers were my original introduction to a “father-less household”.

Mr. and Mrs. Fillenger did not live together. Mr. had another family in Waterloo. Mrs. and her kids were recipients of what was then called “Aid to Dependant Children” (ADC). An early program that subsidised women who raised a family without a “Man”, permanent, in residence. In fact, if a man was permanent the ADC benefits could not apply. That was the answer why the Fillenger kids had so many “step-fathers”, but none that lived with them.

I saw, then, through very young eyes the waste and abuse the system provided to those “in need”.

ADC families received monthly cash payments, food stamps and what were called “commodities”. Large tins of butter and tinned hams could be seen being opened and then tossed out at the Fillenger’s. This bothered me. I had been raised to not waste. But a half eaten tinned ham in the garbage made me wonder what was what. Why the waste?

And such it is in places like Minneapolis… funding targeting the needy, those in want, those without is being systematically abused, misused…https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/77th-defendant-charged-feeding-our-future-fraud-scheme Defendant Camara was the owner of K’s Dollar Grocery and Deli, a small storefront grocery store in north Minneapolis.  In August 2015, the USDA disqualified Camara and his store, K’s Grocery, from participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”) due to suspected fraud.  In September 2020, Camara enrolled K’s Grocery in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future.  In 2020 and 2021, Camara fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to 1,000 children a day, seven days a week, at his site.  In reality, Camara did no such thing.  Instead, he defrauded the program and stole money meant to feed hungry children.

No good deed goes unpunished…

More later