Underachiever wanting to achieve...

[Stephen Jennings]

Hi everyone, my name is Stephen.

 

Firstly i would like to explain a little about myself.

I was born in 1981 in a mining village called Kinsley in Yorkshire, i grew up through the strikes and witnessed the poverty.

We had chickens in our council house back garden, and my father took me stealing potatoes from farmers fields, if all else failed we still had egg and chips for tea. 

My father turned to drink after and during the strikes, and became verbally and physically abusive, because of this i was brought up in a single parent household, from the age of 8.

 

At secondary school age, it was noticed that i was a full year ahead of the other children, but i was constantly in trouble, fighting, playing the fool and general misbehavior.

Because of my attitude i applied little effort to my opportunity, and in high school this showed, i sat 12 higher tier G.C.S.E's, i did no course work and i didn't revise for one exam, even though being in the top set in every lesson, and being regarded as the most intelligent person in my year, i came out with barely C's.

 

At the age of 17 my mother died, this coupled with my attitude at the time, lets just say my life spiraled downhill.

I was an Heroin addict throughout my adolescence, and spent 2 and a half years in prison.

 

When i was 22 i did a cold turkey and never looked back, at 23 i met my wife and learned a trade, plastering. 

We have 3 wonderful children, my son Jacob has a medical diagnosis of Asperger's and his mother cared for him.

I was later diagnosed as Asperger's, maybe explains my past (potential discussion)  

I grafted and grafted, sometimes 7 days a week for nearly 10 years, determined to turn my life around.

 

Then one day my wife collapsed, a simple test at birth was missed, an easily fixable defect, but because it went undetected until she was 27, she is now left disabled for life, it cannot be fixed now and she struggles to be a mother.

The N.H.S position has been to put my wife on morphine for good.

I have had to leave work to care for both my wife, and my son.

Not being in work is driving me crazy, so i want to take my free time to learn, and i put myself at your mercy to correct me, enlighten me, and maybe even listen to me.

 

It's time to put my potential to the test, i know very little about philosophy and i will do my best to catch up, so please be patient with me if you can, and i look forward to many topical debates in the future.  

 

 

 

[bitcoin]

Made me cry. I don't know what to say beyond I am so so so so so sorry to hear what you have and continue to go through. No living organism should experience any of it. I sincerely wish you the best Bruce.

[Stephen Jennings]

Made me cry. I don't know what to say beyond I am so so so so so sorry to hear what you have and continue to go through. No living organism should experience any of it. I sincerely wish you the best Bruce.

 

Sorry that wasn't my intention, but thank you anyway.... now i have a lot of catching up to do

[RCali]

I'm so sorry for your story, and especially your wife. Hope everything is going well for you all. Is your monetary condition good or sustainable?

[Stephen Jennings]

Thank you.

 

It is good, but it would be a lot better if i was working.

I almost feel guilty in a way for taking from society through social benefits, but feel caught between a rock and a hard place.

I payed taxes and have grafted, but at the moment i'm stuck with no prospects, i mean we get 30k a year benefits and we cannot save more than 3k or it would be stopped.

It is more than enough to get by, but the walls stopping you progress are frustrating to say the least, i cannot even save, get a mortgage, all because of mistakes made by a government run organisations like the NHS.

Being born into a society in the 80's where you had no option but to rely on NHS.

I grafted to get out of poverty to a livable situation, but now i'm stuck here unable to further it. 

[RCali]

Do you have enough people in your life that would donate to your family, so you could leave the government rob sack behind?

[ribuck]

... I almost feel guilty in a way for taking from society through social benefits... 

 

You certainly don't need to feel guilty for accepting benefits that others are offering to you, provided you are not the one using or advocating force to obtain those benefits. A free society would certainly have its own ways of helping those who, like you, have encountered extremely difficult circumstances.

 

Having said that, it's also true that you would probably feel better about yourself if you were working. Perhaps there's some type of work-from-home you could do (such as being an Ebay trader, or making videos about your plastering knowledge). Could you find a way to get a few hours away from care so that you can do some part-time plastering? Even if you spend the income (instead of saving it and breaching your £3000 limit), it should improve the quality of your life. You could even purchase some paid care for your wife and son, to make it easier to find time to do your part-time work, and to give you a break.

[Stephen Jennings]

Do you have enough people in your life that would donate to your family, so you could leave the government rob sack behind?

 

Unfortunately no, i have no extended family and my wife's family are not very charitable.

I have honestly racked my brain over the past year to find a way out of this, without putting my family through severe hardship.

I was self employed, had my own van, employee's and i was sub-contracted very well, making 6k a month after tax.

[Stephen Jennings]

You certainly don't need to feel guilty for accepting benefits that others are offering to you, provided you are not the one using or advocating force to obtain those benefits. A free society would certainly have its own ways of helping those who, like you, have encountered extremely difficult circumstances.

 

Having said that, it's also true that you would probably feel better about yourself if you were working. Perhaps there's some type of work-from-home you could do (such as being an Ebay trader, or making videos about your plastering knowledge). Could you find a way to get a few hours away from care so that you can do some part-time plastering? Even if you spend the income (instead of saving it and breaching your £3000 limit), it should improve the quality of your life. You could even purchase some paid care for your wife and son, to make it easier to find time to do your part-time work, and to give you a break.

 

Unfortunately i threw my academic life away, and chose one of a tradesman.

I have had a P.C for 4 years now, but still have lots to learn about them, lol i can't even figure out how to get a pic small enough to go on my avatar.

The idea of working from home has been at the forefront of my hopeful progression through life, since my wife's illness.

I'm just not educated enough yet, my abilities for learning are very good and i pick them up very quickly.

My problem is that i need to see something done to learn it, i cannot do it "as well through" text or being told verbally, which is slowing my process.

e.g i have tried several different gaming community websites which worked through donations, all of which failed because i depended on others for tech support. 

[RCali]

Investing? Creating or being part of a business? There's always a way.

[Stephen Jennings]

Investing? Creating or being part of a business? There's always a way.

 

Yes, and that's why i'm here, to learn and be more educated academically.... it's not that i haven't tried avenue's, it's that they haven't worked yet.