School, meet Life.

I love me a good rant, and here’s one of three from the link above:

At first I didn’t think Romney’s comments were any big deal, but then I realized he was talking about me, and so many Americans like me. Then I felt insulted. My father died at age 42 after a four-year battle with extremely aggressive MS, when I was 10. Our family was financially ruined.

My mom, my older brother and I lived off his SSDI survivor benefits and help from my mom’s family. My mom received the benefit until I was 16. Us kids received the benefit until we graduated from high school, me for eight years. My mom put herself through community college and found a good job. My brother graduated high school and joined the military. I graduated and went to college. The point is that we would have been destitute without the SSDI benefit, and I’m sure we didn’t pay much in taxes for several years. The government benefit, which my dad paid into, did exactly what it was supposed to do - keep us afloat until we could take care of ourselves.

And that we have done. We’ve gone on to have good careers. I now proudly pay over twice as much tax, as a percentage of my income, as Gov. Romney does. I’ve not done the math, but I’m sure that the income and payroll taxes my dad paid before he died and the taxes my mom, brother, and I have paid - and continue to pay - more than make up for the years we lived on SSDI. I would have given up that benefit any day to have my dad back. It was not a political decision to take that benefit, and my first presidential vote for Bush in 1992 was not leveraged by whether or not he was going to keep me on the dole.

I feel sorry for Romney. I truly think that he and those who surround him simply don’t understand how most Americans live.