A bit of a funny day, all things considered. Lately each say at college is so full of ups and downs, it’s so tiring and a lot of emotions to fit into six hours.

A couple of boys in my Sociology lesson (one of which is in at least half of my other classes. I can’t stand him and every hour we spend together brings me closer to the day that I will ultimately throw him out of the nearest window) really upset me today. We end up in all these random discussions in my Sociology lessons anyway, and this means that we don’t end up getting through half of the work that we are supposed to. It’s really annoying.
Today for some reason people who live off benefits came up and the boys immediately started of them being scum and stuff. I’m not usually that outspoken but I completely snapped at them both without meaning to. It just got my angry.
Yeah, my family lived completely off benefits for a long time. For some people, it’s the best option. My mum chose to stay unemployed so that she could focus on bringing up my brother and I. We didn’t have anyone else taking care of us and we all know by now how useful my dad has been. I think that me and John turned out all the better for her being around. And then there’s the fact that she would have needed such an understanding employer. When we were kids John use to have hospital appointments for various things every few weeks, and these only increased when his seizures started. It would have been so difficult if she worked, and I know I particularly would have suffered with it.
All this not even taking into account how much child care would have cost. It wouldn’t have worked. We had even less money when I was a kid. We were one of the families that our church gave money at Christmas. It’s weird, when I think about it.
We’ve been through so much as a family and people speaking the way that those boys did, and investing all their beliefs in a stereotype designed for the ignorant completely discredits all that. They try to make you ashamed of the person you are and I don’t see why I should stand for that.

So yeah. Think twice before you next judge someone, because the chances are you don’t know anything about their actual situation.

And I’m not going to let some disdainful, scathing voice asking me whether I live off benefits make me ashamed.

We’re not on them anymore. We have some but it’s not our whole income. Coming off them was so awesome because the benefits office messed up constantly. We used to have to go to this office all the time because they periodically took a load of money away from us for no reason. It was really stressful and kind of a strange thing to be thinking about when you’re ten, now I think about it.

Ahh well. I'm going away this weekend. My mum got me tickets to go and see Twelth Night in Stratford. I can't wait. I'll take photos :). I'm seventeen on Monday, it's so weird.

Track: Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous - Good Charlotte