No, not THAT Keith...
He has limited use of his arms and no movement below his chest. His fingers are curled from disuse. He types with the knuckle of his pinkie finger. It’s hard for him to lift a cell phone to his ear.
He’s been at the school a year and a half, after a five-year career in the mortgage business. Despite the lower pay, he sees teaching as a calling. He has been paralyzed for nine years, ever since a car he was riding in was hit by a drunken driver. Recently, his situation has gotten worse, with severe pain in his right arm, perhaps from strain, though doctors worry there could be a problem in his neck impacting the nerves. He now uses a motorized chair, which has eased the pain, though not entirely.
You would think Keith Anderson receives many forms of government support. In fact, he gets exactly zero. It’s by his choice.
He rejects it all, feeling it’s his responsibility as a father and adult to pay his own way.
“I am extremely against receiving entitlements,” said Anderson. “People work hard for their money. Who am I to take it? Who am I to depend on the fruits of their labor?”
Keith Anderson would receive far more if he stopped working.
“Financially,” he said, “I would be better off sitting at home.”
Believe it or not, it gets better. Read the entire story. Then think about taking money from Keith’s paycheck to pay Aunt Zeituni to stay home.
Then re-read Keith’s story, just to feel great all over again.
"The truth is something [Warren] probably prefers not to confront. Harvard doesn’t come calling just because you’re a smart lawyer and a terrific teacher — not with Warren’s modest, Oklahoma upbringing and non-Ivy League education. She is not your typical Harvard professor. At a certain point, when the law school was under pressure to promote diversity, she represented a three-fer: a great lawyer with a national profile, a woman, and a minority, at least by virtue of family lore. "
-- Joan Vennochi
