Honestly, this exercise/simulation should be part of every US college curriculum. I often feel and empathize and try to absorb what it must be like for those living outside the middle-class privileged place I mostly orbit <sigh>, but that is not enough.
I totally agree, Amie. That was something that I heard from most of the people who participated in the experience, regardless of whether they had experienced poverty or not. We all thought that this is something that should be required in either colleges or jobs. It was very eye opening.
I live in a poor community--no jobs, terrible schools, and people living below the poverty line. I thought I understood poverty until I moved here. There’s our 82-year-old friend who’s been raising his almost 18-year-old grandson for six years. They have no car and Mr. Will was just diagnosed with cancer. He has to find rides to his appointments, often from people who want (maybe need?) gas money. The grandson dropped out of school a couple of years ago but doesn’t work because there aren’t many places that will or can hire him. We have another friend who lives in a trailer with no electricity or running water. And yet another set of kids who come by regularly to see if I’ve cooked anything because their parents spend all of their government money on drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. It’s terrible.
All of that is so heartbreaking. There's so much so need out there, so much suffering. Sounds like Mr. Will is doing the best he can and his grandson is caught up in that cycle. I hope there's a better future for the grandson and those other kids. I'm glad they have you there, at least.
There's a local friend of mine who has started doing what he calls "Mutual Aid Request" where on social media he tells about a family's situation, for example, "A local family needs money for rent because they lost their job." He's crowdsourced probably thousands of dollars now over the past few months to help local families in need. He always puts some of his money down first before asking and he's highly regarded in the community. I don't know if there's something similar you can do and ask social media friends and/or blog readers to help buy Mr. Will a cheap car, but just a thought.
Beautifully written. It's heartbreaking to know people carry shame for poverty. I wish the value of a human being was seen universally as inherent and not tied to money or power or prestige.
Indeed, I wish that, too. Living here in the U.S., there's that myth of "lifting yourself up by your own bootstraps," which is that philosophy that adds shame to poverty, as if people choose to be poor. To those with that way of thinking, I often quote Martin Luther King Jr.:
“It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.”
Honestly, this exercise/simulation should be part of every US college curriculum. I often feel and empathize and try to absorb what it must be like for those living outside the middle-class privileged place I mostly orbit <sigh>, but that is not enough.
I totally agree, Amie. That was something that I heard from most of the people who participated in the experience, regardless of whether they had experienced poverty or not. We all thought that this is something that should be required in either colleges or jobs. It was very eye opening.
I live in a poor community--no jobs, terrible schools, and people living below the poverty line. I thought I understood poverty until I moved here. There’s our 82-year-old friend who’s been raising his almost 18-year-old grandson for six years. They have no car and Mr. Will was just diagnosed with cancer. He has to find rides to his appointments, often from people who want (maybe need?) gas money. The grandson dropped out of school a couple of years ago but doesn’t work because there aren’t many places that will or can hire him. We have another friend who lives in a trailer with no electricity or running water. And yet another set of kids who come by regularly to see if I’ve cooked anything because their parents spend all of their government money on drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. It’s terrible.
All of that is so heartbreaking. There's so much so need out there, so much suffering. Sounds like Mr. Will is doing the best he can and his grandson is caught up in that cycle. I hope there's a better future for the grandson and those other kids. I'm glad they have you there, at least.
There's a local friend of mine who has started doing what he calls "Mutual Aid Request" where on social media he tells about a family's situation, for example, "A local family needs money for rent because they lost their job." He's crowdsourced probably thousands of dollars now over the past few months to help local families in need. He always puts some of his money down first before asking and he's highly regarded in the community. I don't know if there's something similar you can do and ask social media friends and/or blog readers to help buy Mr. Will a cheap car, but just a thought.
Beautifully written. It's heartbreaking to know people carry shame for poverty. I wish the value of a human being was seen universally as inherent and not tied to money or power or prestige.
Indeed, I wish that, too. Living here in the U.S., there's that myth of "lifting yourself up by your own bootstraps," which is that philosophy that adds shame to poverty, as if people choose to be poor. To those with that way of thinking, I often quote Martin Luther King Jr.:
“It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.”