The poverty of expectation

My father went bankrupt in 1972. The times were different then, and personal bankruptcy was neither commonplace nor a mere social inconvenience. My family was sent tumbling down into a black financial abyss. We fell, but rather than hit the bottom, we were caught in a safety net—the welfare state. This educated me, fed me, clothed me, housed me, paid for my university education, and supported my studies. A debt of gratitude to society lives with me everyday. There is nothing that I would not do to protect our welfare state—for me it is …