Posted by:
nowI'mfound
(
)
Date: December 02, 2011 04:55PM
Our ward encompasses a fairly affluent area. We are not affluent, we just happen to live in the boundaries. Anyhow, in the 4+ years we've been here, we notice that the compassionate service requests that go out are a bit ridiculous. For example requests for free cars and appliances (which members have donated), requests for free furniture (dressers etc. which one could definitely live without), meals for TWO WEEKS following surgery even though the person has an able-bodied husband and 4 teenage children who could probably step up and cook, etc. They clearly do not understand the difference between needs and wants here.
Maybe my annoyance is because DH and I have always prided ourselves on being self-sufficient. We worked our asses off to get to where we are. We put ourselves through school. We worked opposite schedules so one of us was always with the kids and they never had to be in daycare. We lived in tiny apartments with very little furniture, shared one car, and slowly worked our way up. Yet, here, people just expect that ward members should make life cushy for them in any circumstance.
Now we have a surgeon asking for someone to put his live-in nephew up for a couple of nights--even though this guy lives in one of the biggest houses around and could certainly afford to pay for a hotel for a night if needed--because he has other relatives coming into town for a funeral that want to stay with him. I'm not sure why they need to relocate the nephew and I'm not sure why the other relatives don't get a hotel. We have for 3 different funerals we traveled out of state for. I think that's what most people do in these circumstances. It just seems a little excessive.
I know, I'm not sounding very compassionate am I? It's probably because I'm burned out on the weekly non-necessary compassionate service requests.
And, okay, that's the end of me ranting today :) But seriously...