later
If they were capable of planning long-term they wouldn’t be poor; at least not for long. Emotional maturity and self-discipline, of the kind required for long-term planning, are the keys to success and happiness.
I read her article.
Not all poor are like her. My parents were lower middle class as long as they were together, and when they divorced mom and I were poor. Mom didn’t eat junk food. Mom cooked. It was cheaper to cook than waste money on junk food. She didn’t take up drinking. She didn’t take up drugs. She didn’t take up smoking. She didn’t have babies with guys that wouldn’t be around a few days. She didn’t sit around letting depression stop her from living and finding little joys in life. Stressful, yes. Lots of pressure? yes. We had other stable family around so there was a pressure relief, just having family there. Shopping was not priority. Goodwill was where we were. We had food stamps. She found a decent job, that led her to another better decent job, that led her to a third, more fulfilling, decent job. She did get remarried and that guy was stable and had a decent job, and he went on to another decent job. They were married 20 years and their lives did get better. They had kid problems. They had financial issues. They had stress.
If there is one thing different about them than Linda’s explanation of the type of poor she is writing about, my mom and dad and stepdad were from a generation that learned from their parents the concept of delayed gratification. Also that you save whatever you can for rainy days, or for emergency funds. You don’t piss it away on drugs, or booze, or pills. They never developed a self-destructive lifestyle, and never developed the ability to rationalize shitty personal choices away because of their current socio-economic status.
In the past many more poor families lived poor, but lived with dignity. My own parents’ families are examples of it. To a lesser degree my family was an example of it. I remember seeing the way other people lived and being surprised at how much they just let themselves go. Like they had no respect for themselves and what (little) they had.
Linda is telling us how things are for her and those she knows. I am telling you that Linda doesn’t represent every poor person or their experiences. It is possible to get out of it. But it does require you doing things that are very difficult to do if you have not developed the ability to have higher personal standards and delay gratification, and possibly most importantly when you’re poor, not piss away what precious little money you earn on things that are very expensive, relatively speaking, but are not good for you and keep you from saving and building up money to help you move on and up as best you can, where you currently are.
You can’t get out of it if you aren’t trying to get out of it. My mom didn’t want to stay at that level. She did everythign she could to get out. So did the second husband she married, who was financially challenged with kids from his prior marriage too. They had self-control. They didn’t go on vacations for the first 16-17 years they were married. The money went to other priorities. Necessities. You have to have long-term goals. If you are in a crap job you can’t go higher in, you have to have a long term goal to get into a different job that you can have a career path with.
For the photographs of herself in the article, Linda is wearing that black tee shirt with a circle slash over a cross and the words above it say “bad religion”. This perfectly describes her bad attitude and a horrible lack of maturity.
Poor people don’t make bad decisions because they are poor. They are poor because they make bad decisions.
“broccoli is intimidating”
LOL!! what a maroon!
If this woman really wrote this well, she should be a journalist. I sense a lot of doctoring and polishing; it just doesn’t feel as if a poor, uneducated woman wrote this. I teach a lot of students, and their writing and grammar is often much worse than this.
Later
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time as the saying goes.
I find that poor people in general fantasize about being well off in the future, but never fill in the steps to get there. Like it’s just going to miraculously occur. These people are on the lottery retirement plan.
We’re now in an age were young adults just starting out are perfectly happy paying 15-20% of their net income on fancy phone service.
At the bottom of the page I clicked on a link and it is an interview with her. She is doing very well and is selling her book. Read the comments, too. Enlightening.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/21/linda-tirado-poverty-hand-to-mouth-interview
and there is more poverty, or are there more imported poor people in addition to the 92million not on the books,,,
http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/sep/16/us-census-bureau-stagnant-report-figures
I joined the military but as an enlisted, you are still poor. When I got out I was really no better off and ended up taking the sorts of jobs this author did: retail, food service, security, inventory. I averaged about $9,000 a year throughout the 1990s.
Like her, I had no credit rating at all, no medical coverage, no dental, no nothing. Unlike her, I also had no car, no phone, and for most of it, no husband. And I never had any trouble opening a bank account. Those remarks I do not understand... even if the bank won't give you a checking account, they are likely to give you a savings account because there is no risk to them.
But I did figure out one very basic thing: if you cannot afford to take care of yourself, you most certainly cannot afford a baby. And this nonsense about not going to Planned Parenthood because it's too far away and you don't want to be seen...? That is ridiculous. I rode the city bus for however many hours I had to and walked past whatever strangers were there to get on the Pill. And if you can afford cigarettes, you can afford condoms! So there's your first problem, having children.
Our home was a glorified shack, partly insulated with empty feed sacks. Air conditioning was something we only got to enjoy when we went to the grocery store for bread. I cleaned farrowing houses starting at 10 years old to help with money. My parents loved me and my sister very much... even though we chastised them for the relentless teasing we got for wearing horribly outdated yard sale clothing. Today, I feel pretty bad about giving them the business for that, they were doing the best they could. I could go on and on, but the point is there. when I was a kid, I didn't completely realize how poor we were, it was normal for us and to be honest, most of my local friends were in the same position. It wasn't until around 6th grade, seeing other kids from other areas that I realized how different life was for them.
Here's where the story changes. This didn't depress me or make me work hard to make other people understand, it resulted in a vow. I remember sitting in my attic bedroom, cold as hell because there was no heat except what leeched through the stairway opening form the wood stove downstairs. I remember that moment, I was about 10 years old or so. I decided at that moment that I would do whatever I had to do in order to avoid living on the fringes when I grew up.
It took me 20 years. I had no money for college, but I had motivation. I had an average brain and not much else to work with.
Fast forward 35 years. I'm now a seasoned, respected and in-demand data center architect with no college degree. Our combined household income is far more than above average. I don't even get dirty for a living. My kids attend private school, we drive nice, but modest vehicles, live in a quiet, clean and modest neighborhood and I already have enough stocked to retire if I wanted. Wealth is not even something I strive for, I work to make my family comfortable and without worry. Nothing more. I came from nowhere and I am nobody special. I'm not incredibly intelligent, no more than average. My story is one that is possible for just about anyone. In fact, I could have done SO much more than I did... had the desire motivated me to.
My mother and father have also graduated, just at a much slower pace... geography does dictate a lot of things and there are fewer opportunity for those not wiling to uproot and move. Mom is retired and dad is getting ready to retire this summer. They still struggle a little, but they are worlds better off now than they were in the beginning.
The point in this long-winded post is that I recognized one thing in that woman's write-up. She gave up and has no desire to think her way out of the situation. If the story is true, she appears to be willing to work for it, but has no sense of direction or ability to believe in herself. She's been taught that her life is hopeless and will never change.I assure you, I'm not aesthetically pleasing either, but that never stopped me. Failure is nothing more than a crossroad. If you sit down in the intersection and give up, your destiny is etched in stone. You can pause and pout for a minute, but choosing another road and trying again is how you will get there... never surrender.
This woman’s account of her problems began with the violation of one of the ten commandments: Thou shall honor your mother and your father. She’s wearing an anti-God tee shirt. I would have nothing and be nobody economically if not for God. I started out poor - most middle class kids around me did. We worked our way up; but this globalism animal has squelched that possibility for many because their labor market is global - including in the US - and people are now widgets.
The ethics of businesses have changed to the dark side with globalism. Treat others as you would want to be treated comes to mind. Many businesses violate this commandment from Jesus. Everyone suffers as a result.
And I do thank janitors and people cleaning up outdoors, in stores, restaurants and office buildings. If not for them, we would be living in crap up to our necks. Their service/work is hugely important to all of us.
Those times in life when I could afford it, I tipped good wait staff generously - way beyond minimal expectation. I have paid people for services more than they are charging - like window washers - because their service is more important to me than what they charge.
In my family we were raised to look at no job as “lowly.” All jobs have to be done and the people doing them are important.
A company which only exists because of a tax subsidy closes when the subsidy disappears, and the author blames "capitalism". Is there a cure for this level of ignorance?
bkmk