I think that some people are inherently good and others, not so much.
Case in point: Two men won lottery jackpots worth millions of dollars.
Let”s address Leroy Fick first. His name may as well be Freddy the Freeloader.
As many opportunists do, Fick found a loophole that allowed the Michigan man to continue collecting food stamps for 11 months after winning $2 million. And he didn”t feel the least bit guilty about it either.
It was reported that he said the government took a substantial amount of his winnings in taxes. So he thought he was owed the food stamps.
But excuse me Leroy, don”t other people”s taxes put food on your table?
Here”s how Senator Rick Jones responded: “For Leroy Fick to continue to use a Bridge Card (food stamps), paid for by the taxpayers, after winning the lottery, is obscene. What a waste of taxpayer money.”
Fick told a Saginaw, Michigan news anchor, “If you”re going to try to make me feel bad, you”re not going to do it.”
Here”s the loophole: Eligibility for food stamps is based on gross income and follows federal guidelines; lottery winnings are considered liquid assets and don”t count as income.
Holy Mother of Pearl, are you kidding?
Just as my disgust reached its peak, a whole different kind of lottery winner surfaced.
Enter Phillip Withem of Logan, Ohio.
He won $5 million.
This was fortunate for him. You see Withem needs kidney dialysis to stay alive.
But he plans on giving a large portion of his winnings away.
“I”m going to help people because I love it. It makes me feel good, and I think that”s what God put us here for,” Withem told the press, just after accepting the check from the Ohio Lottery.
Withem plans to donate to children”s charities. He would also like to give to friends who helped him during his illness.
He said he no longer needs his disability check.
OK, some people have character, integrity and pride and others are devoid.
There is simply nothing anyone can do to cause Fick to be upstanding.
Legally he can keep his food stamps and his millions.
A part of me wishes he would choke on a chicken bone. But if he did, you know there would be someone just like him right around the corner. Most folks know at least one person who totes around a sense of entitlement.
Most people also know at least one person like Withem, who readily gives to others; friends and strangers.
I wouldn”t want to be friends with Fick and I suspect most others wouldn”t want to befriend him either.
I definitely wouldn”t wish to work with, be neighbors of, or be related to, this greedy chump either.
In the end, Fick can have his food stamps and anything else he wants to hoard.
Withem can have respect and a sense that the world is a better place because he is an active part of it.
Mandy Feder is the Record-Bee managing editor. She can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or 263-5636 ext. 32.
