There is a definite stigma about people who have filed bankruptcy! Years ago, when the bankruptcy laws were different, filing bankruptcy was abused by many people. I remember hearing stories of people who would rack up thousands of dollars of bills, file bankruptcy and then do it all over again! Those images of bankruptcy weigh heavily on the minds of my generation.
The bankruptcy laws have changed and it is not so easy for people to take advantage of the system. I am sure there are still people who do, but the laws are in place to help the people who really need it. Thank God for that!
Unfortunately, for some, the stigma remains that people filing for bankruptcy are either abusing the system or taking the easy way out. I can never change any one's mind that thinks that way but I wish that compassion could take the place of not understanding! Being a bankrupt American is not easy in any way, shape or form. Getting to the point of being bankrupt is like going through the worst nightmare you can imagine only it it is real! No, one, I mean no, one, would know that unless they have been through it!
As a society, we stand by and support so many causes. But I have noticed over the years that we tend to do this with causes that we deem "out of ones control". If something happens to someone that appears they could not help, like an illness, we stand up and support the situation. Don't get me wrong, I am happy about this. I am always happy when people help other people! However, if misfortune happens to someone and others think it was "self inflicted", they turn their heads away. To some people, it makes them feel empowered that others mess up so bad. It makes them feel filled up with pride that they never had that problem which makes them feel better than those who have messed up. That is the part I am not very happy about!
This is hard to write about without sounding like a prude! Why is it that when something bad happens to some one's body, we act like it is out of that person's control and that there was nothing they could have done to prevent it but when something happens to your financial life...you should have been able to prevent it? Why do we rally around those that become physically sick but walk away from those who are financially sick? Why do other people who are financially stable think they are more special in some way because financial instability has not come to them?
We are all human beings and what happens to one, can happen to any one. You can not be too perfect to avoid it. Just like you can live your life making your body healthy and fit but that does not guarantee that you will never be susceptible to disease. Cancer is something that can enter anyone's body no matter how well you think you are taking care of the body. Sometimes, just the obsession of not wanting any disease to enter a body is enough to make it happen. Just like the life I have lived being scared to death of losing everything might have just brought it into existence. The very thing that I worked so hard to avoid is, in fact, what happened. Disease can be the same thing. Life was never meant to be perfect...that you are born and the goal is to never have anything bad happen in your life. Bad things happen to everyone, but the concept of what is self inflicted and that which is not, determines what we will help others through or not is a sad look at the human race!
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