Bleeding Turnips

When I was a child my Grandma used to say to me, “You can’t get blood from a turnip.” It was not until I was an adult with kids that I really understood what she was talking about. What my Grandma forgot to mention was unless you are the Federal government you can't get blood from a turnip.

Recently, I stopped in a state rest area while traveling. I had my son with me. As we walked across the parking lot, a lady approached us. The lady was apparently upset and on the verge of tears. She began to share with the two of us her tragic plight. She apparently was on her way to see her dying daughter. She explained in great detail how she and her husband were trapped at the rest area with no gas or food. It was a moving story, honestly.

Let me interject something here. The previous Sunday, my children heard me teaching about the importance of benevolence. I had explained how by reaching out to the needy we are truly doing the work of the Messiah. I explained to the group how we should spend less time determining people’s motives and more time just helping, which I firmly believe. I suddenly realized my child was watching me. Was he about to see me practice what I preach? Or, is he about to see me ignore my own teaching?
Now back to our story. The lady told us she was going to Charlotte, but they were traveling towards Atlanta. I saw her husband standing close by smoking a cigarette. They both just gave me an uneasy feeling. You know that feeling you have when you know someone is just lying. However, I decided it did not matter, after all what was a few dollars. For some reason, even though I was confident she was lying to me, I had sympathy for her. So I reached into my pocket to give them some money. The problem is there was no money there. I searched through all my pockets and could not even find a few cents change. “Ma’am, I am sorry, I would to love to help you but I am broke!” I told my son. “Sometimes it does not matter how much you want to help someone, when you are broke, you are broke.”

Folks this is where our Government is. They (we) are broke! I know folks are hurting and out of work. I understand times are tough. Most of you know that I have had it tough myself for the past couple of years. However, we cannot allow our government to continue spending money regardless of how sympathetic or sad the cause. Yes, people are still out of work. Things continue to be hard. Our nation going into more debt will not change things it will only make things worse. Think about it this way. Your family is struggling with money. You are barely paying the important bills. There are some months when you have to make to tough choices and go without a few things. You decide to make things better. In order to improve your situation you go out to the mall and go on a shopping spree. You buy lots of stuff you can use, but no groceries or essentials. You pay no utilities or house mortgages. So please tell me how would this help your financial struggles? Right now this is what the Federal government is doing. We the People need to rise up against our government and tell them to stop spending on anything. Our pockets are empty regardless of how great the cause. STOP SPENDING NOW!