Single Ma asked On Oct 17, Do you know what it's like to be poor. In her article she says,
Some people never really know what it's like to be poor. I don't care how many poor people you know or went to school with. Unless you have LIVED it, there's no way you can ever really understand.
She then pulls a few items from a list posted by John at Whatever, that lets you measure whether or not you really know:
Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.
Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they're what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there's not an $800 car in America that's worth a damn.
Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.
Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.
Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.
Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights.
Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.
Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.
Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.
Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.
Ok so John's list is much bigger then this, but it gives you an idea. I can remeber checking the coin slots numerous times, being short by a few dollars on the utility bills, driving a cheap car that I bought for $500. Heck, I can rember countless times dropping the last box of mac and cheese, just after I had coked it, and getting upset about it.
I even can remember several times over the last couple of years, having a toothache, and hoping it would go away. Including the one I had in the last couple of months, that eventually did go away, meaning I have not had to shell out 2-days income to visit the dentist.
On October 18, I read about An American Dream Denied, that appeard in the Boston Globe. It seems, John Walsh thought he was living the American dream. Until, that is, he ran head-on into a distiant cousin (one of whom I have never met or know in any way) of mine by the name of Jonathan Winthrop (his great-great grandfather's sister married my great-great grandfather or something like that).
Apparentley in MA, when you buy a condo, a board from the Condo Association, gets to decide if they will allow the sale. In another words, if you don't fit into their haughty mold, then you can forget buying the condo.
Walsh says Winthrop, chairman of the co-op board, was cold and haughty from the beginning. In an initial 30-minute ``preliminary interview," Walsh says, Winthrop's questions focused on the couples' parents' backgrounds, their own educations, and that of their children. Winthrop also wanted to know how they got such a good price on the unit, Walsh says. ``By the way," Walsh quoted Winthrop as saying at the end, ``your references are weak."
Walsh says his wife got the message loud and clear: They don't want us here, she said.
A very interested read. Makes one wonder, if Winthrop would act the same way towards a new found cousin who had grew up poor. Especially if Genoligical records proved the connection. By the way John Kerry is a cousin in this same family.
Finally, I will end this post with some comedy bits from the Dave Ramsey show.
Ihave barely scratched the surfice of the articles I wanted to talk about, but I don't want to make this article to big, so be looking for part 2 soon.
I usually go for home made baked mac and cheese, and thankfully have never dropped it. I have, however, dropped the elbows in the sink while making ghoulash. And boy, did I cry. I usually make a week's worth at once, since it usually tastes better after a couple of days anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think that the time I cried the most, though, was when I was in college and spilled a pot of spaghetti. On my crotch. Right after taking it off of the burner. That was for a different reason than you mention in the article, though...
Sadly I have had to buy those $800 cars and they did break down.. after getting a terrible divorce I was left to buy a $300 car and it lasted a good 1 yr LOL
ReplyDeletePoverty can and does crush people physically and emotionally. Once someone has had to deal with being poor and barely getting by it is difficult to lose that mentality if they are able to get out of poverty.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too sure about the fourth to the last on the list. You can be formally educated or well read and still be poor.
Yes, my friend owned a co-op apartment. And when he stood to earn a lot on its sale, jealousy pushed other members to slow things down. Co-ops can be an area where people have authority over others. But co-ops can also be great blessings as low cost housing.
ReplyDelete