I have an iPhone and receive food stamps, do you hate me?

First off I am in no way a professional writer. I am just a girl who writes from her heart. I figured with a risky title everyone going into this blog would have their angry eyes on. They would assume I was another one of THOSE welfare people who is making our country go broke. I figured you, the reader, would automatically want to leave me some links to the wonderful news paper articles you find online about how the welfare system doesn't work and how we (the welfare families as YOU call us) have it way easier then you do, the non welfare families. So, where should I start...As some of you know from previous posts I not only raise my own child, who is 5, but I also raise my friends child who is 15 both with no child support. We live in a decent 2 bedroom place where I share a room with my daughter so the teenage boy can have a space of his own and I drive a car that is paid off. We do not have cable tv, the teenager does have a cell phone on wifi but no cell service, and I have an iPhone my father got for my for an early birthday gift. As a single parent working has been difficult at times. When you have a teenager that needs extra attention at times due to his past,a little girl who has some pretty bad lung issues, and health issues yourself missing work just happens. When you live around no family because moving back to California is NOT an option you tend to learn to suck it up and figure it out. I was taught that working hard and paying your way is the proper thing to do and yet here I sit at home after sending my daughter to preschool not going to work, but why? If I went back to age 15 and began to tell you my story of depression, suicide, living in an institution, and so on would you possibly understand it more? If I told you of the struggles the teenager has because of abuse, neglect, and being abandoned and how I raise him outside of the foster care system WITHOUT state money, would you understand? If I told you that I volunteer as much time as possible in our local community due to guilt of taking YOUR hard earned tax money, would you understand? Probably not...you would still share the wonderful articles you find online about how great we live and how easy welfare families have it. You would find youtube videos showing what low life's we are and how you are tired of paying for us to live. You would point out in your facebook statuses how everything should be taken from us because we do not deserve it since YOU are the one working and if you do not think YOU are the one who would ever do such a thing think again. Yes we stay fed due to food stamps and we have a roof over our head due to housing assistance but there is constantly a threat of that going away. There is always a threat of a bill being passed to lower assistance which is already VERY low even more. I am not here to talk you into standing up for higher food stamps or assistance but simple to talk you into being nice. Stop being to hateful to those you do not even know. In EVERY system there are abusers but not everyone is that way. I decided to write this post due to the over whelming hate for people on assistance. The automatic judgement of some young single mother, struggling family, single father, or even just a single person who is currently out of work. I do not normally try to brag about raising the teenager or my daughter alone but I am simply sick and tired of people saying things not only online but to my face about the laziness of welfare families when they have/had no idea I was one of those families. I know how hard it is for myself to read some of the stuff online that others share and I want others out there to know that just because you receive assistance does not make you a low life, beggar, uneducated, unworthy, lazy, or anything else bad. You are a human being like anyone else who was put in a position in this chapter of life and receiving assistance does NOT define who you are. So, think twice before you share, speak, post, or read online. Remember me, Tabatha, the single mother you go to church with, volunteer with, work with, and do life with. Remember that some of those "welfare families" are your friends, neighbors, advocates, babysitters, and family and we ARE trying to get off assistance. We are working hard even if our "hard work" looks different than yours. I've debated this post for so long due to having to put myself out there so much and in the end I decided to go for it. So here it is...all in the open. Oh and thank you.