The "Dirty riddles" of poverty

The "Dirty riddles" of poverty

by SouthernFriedInfidel | Published on October 16th, 2009, 2:44 pm | Life

Liv wrote:My skanky neighbor is swinging her legs around the pole for $400 a night and blowing it on snuff (not stuff), weed, beer and four wheelers while she uses the trunk of a 76 Olds as a play pen for her baby...

Explain to me how I am in the position I am. I crackin had to take my penny can to coinstar to cash it in and get a crappy McDouble for lunch because I spent the last few dollars on gas getting the kids back and forth to school...

Liv, I hope you don't mind me starting a thread about poverty using your quote from your life. But what you said got me to thinking about something that has long puzzled me about life during hard times.

Years ago, I attended Immanuel Baptist Church, which is situated next to the ruins of a hotel called "The Coliseum." For years, this place was a "home" for dozens of poor people who couldn't afford to rent a place. But what got me was that these folks were paying more for their pathetic little rooms than I was for my mobile home out in the county. They were scraping together $200 every week -- that's over $800 per month on average -- for the right to live in a festering pit of a place that was frequented by gangs, drug dealers and prostitutes, while my family was living in an aluminum tornado-magnet for about $450 a month. And all we had to worry about was the stray raccoon or possum wandering around to rummage in the trash.

It didn't make sense.

And then there was the other bits of the "lifestyle" that puzzled me -- like living off of snack food and trips to Burger King... which are less than healthy and far more expensive than making your own food in your own kitchen. That was one thing that always bothered me when I was growing up -- we NEVER ate out. Mom and Dad always saved their money by only eating from the kitchen and growing a "victory garden" every year.

I guess Americans long ago lost the knack of surviving on little to no money... :think:

And Liv isn't "swinging her legs around the pole for $400 a night"

We generally eat very healthy... (well if we exclude that minor set back with Krispy Kreme last week).... and generally I feel as you do, but I had $1.50 in quarters today, and a stomach that was craving the grease....

It's a minor set-back, and next week I'm sure we will be back to our usual set of meals, many people have told us are that of a "tree hugger".

That said, I don't understand American economics at all. Why people don't use the money to better their lives rather than buy stuff to escape from them.

Even if I was a stripper, a hooker, or a whore, (which I really don't think there's nothing wrong with, honestly) I would hope that I'd use the money for better meals, better schools, bettering myself... not a new car, some toy, or drugs.

I mean, I was thinking about this today while driving home from the kids. Though I complain, because I'm not a Welsh princess living in Cardiff living the good life, the money (though we're still poor as (expletive)) and education I've gained in the last four years of our lives has drastically altered our lives in positive ways beyond any expectation I could have ever had. It's not as though I could pin point it as one thing or define the changes, but I can see my life as a whole better than it was 4 years ago. My children are better for it. My spouse is better for it, and a lot of it was merely because we strived for it. Because it was there for our taking. While on the flip side, there's people, and not to say it's wrong if that's what they want, but are probably following the same daily routine of their life that they were 4 years ago. Their character, who they, has not evolved. 4 years ago their biggest hope was to buy a bag of weed on Friday and forget about work till Monday... today their ambitions are remarkably the same.

I suppose sometimes, I wish I was like that. No, no I don't. I mean I know things, and the fact that I do makes me scared that somehow, even with this knowledge I can't obtain something better, not because I'm not capable but because somehow I didn't make the right decision, or some cosmic destiny (I know) has my life plotted somewhere I really don't want to go.

I mean, not to sound like a complete nutter (though I do) and I'm spilling my guts (though I realize I'm in good company who will take my humble ramblings without laughing to much at me) but, it's like the whole world is one complete distortion, and I feel like I clearly know where and what I'm supposed to do, but then when you attempt to manifest your goals, the world bends in some irrational way. It seems to work for everyone else. I've used the metaphor before, but I really feel like Alice in Wonderland. Everyone thinks "nuts" is completely okay and normal, and everything normal comes across as nuts. It's crackin backwards world.

<Liv swallows medication>

Okay, that was way too much.

Just ignore me.

:animals-bunnywhite:

I didn't mean to make the post about you, Liv... like I said, what you wrote started a train of thought that I've had running off and on for years. I don't say that you are poor, or that you make foolish decisions with your money. But I"ve been poor, myself, yet never slid into the plights I've seen many poor people get into. It's a strange puzzle, that so many of them seem to have a higher cost of living and get less for their money than others.

I hope I didn't cause you or anyone else any personal distress. Just making some observations on (as Sandburg put it) poverty's "dirty riddles."

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:I hope I didn't cause you or anyone else any personal distress. Just making some observations on (as Sandburg put it) poverty's "dirty riddles."

Me? Distress? Ha!

The only thing that will distress me, is if you have some crystal ball which says I'll be working a McDonalds the rest of my life.

No, I went off on a tangent, I derailed another thread... "I'm the derailer" which is both metaphorical and literal according to Virginia Railways.... ...see there I go again.

Liv wrote:
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:I hope I didn't cause you or anyone else any personal distress. Just making some observations on (as Sandburg put it) poverty's "dirty riddles."

Me? Distress? Ha!

The only thing that will distress me, is if you have some crystal ball which says I'll be working a McDonalds the rest of my life.

Well, in fact I do have this old 8-ball thingy. Let me ask it for an opinion.
8-)

I'd be the worst McDonald's employee ever... I'd keep coming up with custom sandwiches.