I had to have all my natural teeth removed at 26 because growing up, I never saw a dentist. My parents had 3 children to support on minimum wage jobs, “luxuries” like doctor/dentist visits were not something any of us were privet to. We were lucky to get one meal a day, forget a check-up.

To this day I cannot afford health/dental insurance. Last year I was hospitalized for 2 days and, despite having a lot of my bills written off as charity, I wracked up nearly $3000 in debt.

Earlier this year, after costing me a job, many friends, and a load of self-esteem, my oral health was so poor I no longer had a choice—I had to see a dentist. Up to that point I lived in excruciating pain for 4 years because I didn’t want to put my family in more debt. I gave in and put my oral surgery on a credit card. Another $3000+ later I have low-quality dentures and money guilt that causes just as much pain as my broken teeth.

My husband works 60 hours a week to support us both. We dream of someday being able to get a second car so I can work, too. Then perhaps we can buy a house instead of throwing away money on the cheapest rental we could find. The American dream? That died ages ago. We simply dream of survival.

We are the 99%.

What what you rather us do?

We can’t simply elect new officials to make the changes we demand because our politicians are bought. We’ve put up with the lack of healthcare, jobs, affordable education, affordable homes, and a set (acceptable) minimum wage for decades. We’ve become so accustomed to dishonesty from our leaders that we now openly mock and laugh at it, knowing full well these people could be running America in about a year.

Peaceably assembling seems to be the only course of action left for us to take, a last resort. Taking to the streets is not something anyone does without just cause. If you do not understand our fight, that’s fine, but please do not mock it. The things we ask for are not “silly” to us; they are basic human rights, and we’ve been denied them for at least as long as I’ve been alive.

peachtulle:

ohelena:

I’m seeing a ton of posts against Occupy Wall Street that all pretty much say the same thing:

“I worked a ridiculous amount of hours, sacrificed time, sleep, and sanity, forced myself to keep going even when I was sick, for x amount of time in order to get where I am now.”

You say you’re not part of the 99%, but really, you are. You’re just letting them blind you into thinking it’s okay that you have to do that in order to get by while they and their children can sit on easy street without any worries.

I don’t know about you, but as for myself, if all I had to do was work part time to support myself while going to school, that would be amazing. My grades would always be up high, but more than that, I could retain the information easier without the stress of needing to find time to sleep.

Plus, for every wonderman who can do the 70 hour work week and still put themselves through school, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of people who just don’t have that kind of energy. Or maybe they don’t have that kind of an option. There are thousands of ‘maybes’ that I could come up with to follow that.

Do not let conservative media trick you into thinking that this is just some lazy kid’s way out of working. It wouldn’t still be going on if that was the case and it wouldn’t have garnered enough media attention. Don’t let them make you think that this has anything to do with political parties. It doesn’t.

It has to do with the fact that we are severely unbalanced as a country. Our values are being dictated by some of the most greedy men in the country, men who don’t know what a negative consequence is because their company is ‘too big to fail.’

Occupy Wall Street is about taking this country back. It’s about making life easier for 99% of the population. It’s about changing the standard for which most Americans have to follow to achieve their dreams. It’s about making dreams possible. It’s about not being consistently disrespected and disregarded by the people running this country who’s list of important things has money at the top and general wellbeing missing completely.

Don’t let yourself be blinded. Don’t let them try to tell you that this is stupid or a waste of time. Don’t let them tell you that you can’t make changes to the country you live in. Don’t let them tell you that this is fair.

If you still don’t think that this is the right thing to do, fine. It’s okay. Because we’re not going to stop until we get some change and we still think that you deserve better, we all deserve better, and we’re not going to stop until that happens.

We all deserve better.

(Source: etownn)