Monday, September 19, 2005

  After reading John Scalzi's ruminations on Being Poor, I'm reminded that I've never known what it's like to be truly poor. I'm not talking about the kind of poor that subjects you to living in a one-room apartment and buying clothes from the second-hand store--I mean the kind of poor that makes you feel privileged to have a bed to sleep in and a private place to pee, the kind of poor that subjects you to getting shoes and clothes out of a dumpster, the kind of poor that you don't choose, the kind you can't easily escape.

I know quite a few people who think being poor is some type of character flaw, that poor people are ignorant and uneducated (or vice versa), that poor people are poor because they gamble and drink (and not vice versa), and that being underemployed or undereducated is a choice. They believe that in this "land of opportunity," poor people could stop being poor if they only got off their lazy asses, that they could find better jobs if they would only try harder. . .

Granted, I don't personally know many poor people, but I know a few who were desperately poor and overcame their situation with hard work, talent, and the right opportunities at the right times. Unfortunately, this is uncommon, and not all hardworking folks get that perfectly-timed opportunity (a.k.a. "luck"). Not all spouses can afford life-insurance policies, not all job losses come with severance packages.

And sometimes working a minimum-wage job to help your parent(s) put food on the family dinner table is much more important than passing your high-school algebra class.

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