There was a boxer who fought in the 20’s and 30’s named James Braddock. He earned the monicker of “Cinderella Man” after defeating Max Baer for the heavyweight title against 10 to 1 odds.
As those who have seen the Russell Crowe movie depicting Braddock’s life know, fighting against the odds wasn’t unusual for the boxer. After a promising start Braddock started losing on a regular basis. With a family to feed and no one willing to give him a fight, he had to return to the docks to find employment. It was the Depression and he eventually lost even that job. One of the most poignant moments of the film is when Jimmy has to swallow his pride for the sake of his family and apply for relief. It could have ended there for Braddock, but there was a “Cinderella” spirit within this man, and a story better than any fictional “Rocky” yet to be written. After much begging, promoters gave him another shot with an undercard fight at the Carnera/Baer championship bout. Baer easily beat Carnera, but the large audience for the championship bout also saw Braddock impressively defeat his opponent, John Griffin. And so began Jimmy Braddock’s comeback… his Cinderella story.
Generally against the odds, Jimmy continued to win fights until he was in line to fight Max Schmelling, a former heavyweight champion, with the winner to face Baer for the championship. Schmelling refused the fight, not wishing to fight “down the ladder”, but the promoters bypassed him giving Braddock the fight with Baer. Baer was an imposing fighter, two of his opponents had died, and the fight with Braddock was expected to be pretty one sided. But then something happened that changed everything… someone, it’s uncertain who, labelled Braddock as a “bum”. “Bum” was one of the worst things you could call a boxer, and Baer exacerbated the insult by predicting an easy knockout… Braddock had lost 22 fights, but never been knocked out. “I may not be a great fighter, but I ain’t a bum,” was Jimmy’s response. Baer didn’t take the fight seriously, but Braddock did, and by the time Baer realized he could lose the fight it was too late; Braddock would not go down, he was not a bum.
“Cinderella Man” had gone from rags to riches, but he had one more thing to do to prove he was not a bum, he voluntarily paid back the money he had been given on “relief”. What different times, what different attitudes! Consider the recent news story of the 24 year old Million dollar lottery winner who after taking the lump sum distribution, bought herself a second house and a new car, and continued to use her EBT card to purchase her groceries on food stamps! One questions how much money this person who apparently could not afford to feed herself invested in a gambling endeavor which is almost always a losing proposition. I understand the psychology behind the lottery, “a dollar and a dream”, hope where there is no hope. What I can’t understand is her justification of continuing to use public assistance by stating in front of the TV camera; “I have bills. I have two houses with no income… I’m struggling”. Those who saw the video will understand when I say she did not seem evil or devious, and not embarrassed or ashamed… just oblivious. Could you imagine her paying back the assistance she had been given through the years?
James Braddock was not a genius either, but he was not a bum. If this lottery winner is to be considered a bum, then she is a bum that we have created. The state has rescinded her EBT card, and may be pursuing fraud charges against her (turns out you can’t collect food stamps if you have half a million in assets; who knew!). Outright fraud in public assistance programs, though outrageous, is probably rarer than many would have us believe. As I will discuss in my next blog, the sense of entitlement and lack of dignity we have witnessed in this young woman is not so rare. It is an unintended consequence of our war on poverty; and I fear we may have lost something truly wonderful in the American psyche. We may have recovered a few dollars in food stamps from this oblivious young woman, but how can we as a nation revive the spirit of The Cinderella Man?
Yes, Amanda Clayton won the Michigan state lottery last September and for some reason it took the state of Michigan months to figure out that she was no longer eligible for public assistance. In the meantime, she continued to use the food stamps that were given to her. She didn’t break the law in doing so and we should be careful not to judge since we know little about this young woman and her hardships despite all the media hype. We should ask ourselves what we would do in a similar situation. If the IRS erred in our favor on our latest tax return, would we immediately pick up the phone and report the mistake? If we were caught speeding and never received a ticket in the mail, would we insist on paying the fine anyway? After all, we are talking about tax payers’ dollars here. I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t.
Amanda Clayton was on public assistance for a reason. The fact that she received about $500,000 from the Michigan state lottery probably did little to change her overall situation. Now we can talk about how she could use her lottery win to improve her situation so she will no longer have to rely on public assistance in the future (she could go to college, start a business, or, like she did, buy a house to secure a place to live) but that’s not really any of our business. Unless, of course, we maintain that the government should have a say in how those on food stamps live their lives.
@tsc444: Exactly.