Your poor it must be your fault

reply to post by ObservingYou


We have public education systems, healthcare, and most Americans are far from being Jerry springer guests.

Don't base your views of another country on what your boob tube shows you. Patulous cranberry

It literally doesn't matter what you say. Because they know a few people that beat the odds, because they know of people who have had it worse, that means that everybody can beat the odds.

It just doesn't matter. Most of the people on here won't understand the concept of having to choose between pursuing your dreams or taking care of your family. And they'll get mad because they'll be like "oh I gave up my dream of being a rockstar/astronaut/pony/whatever for my wife/kids/to join the military to protect your ungrateful hide", failing to realize that this isn't the kind of dreaming I'm talking about at all. The kind of dreaming that I'm talking about is the simple dream where you're not constantly worrying about where the next meal comes from and how you'll get to work tomorrow.

Dude, seriously, a lot of the people on this website, in this country, don't get it because they don't want to get it.

They don't want to understand that there are a lot of people who are in legitimate dire straights. They don't want to understand that poverty, ignorance, violence, and child abuse are major factors that severely hinder a lot of people with a lot of potential. They don't want to understand that the garbage they were fed about anybody and everybody being able to get a leg up and do just fine in the U.S. if they only worked hard enough was just that: garbage.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


From someone that does understand, and has been there, get over it.


We all make choices in our lives. You might not like the options, but that's life, make a choice and live with it. If you don't like your life change it. If that doesn't work try again. Sitting around complaining that your life sucks is counterproductive. Life sucks for everyone, rich people might have money, but few of them have character

All things being equal - if you’re poor and have the same faculties as the majority then - then that's because you choose to be that way - either by straight choice or lack of determination.

In your case OP - things are not equal with you, and obviously you are disadvantaged. That doesn't mean you can't succeed, it is just is harder. That's the hand life dealt you, it sucks but you have to play the cards given to you.

I see to many people who ARE NOT disadvantaged but are still poor. Why? They have a myriad of excuses, but honestly I believe its sheer laziness. We have the most amazing tool at everyone’s disposal - the Internet - and on it you can find work, knowledge, friends, love, damn near anything. And that's just ONE tool in the toolbox of our society. There are thousands of others.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


I call BS

I grew up IN Detroit, not the surrounding area. My sister died of a heroin overdose (fouth times a charm I guess). I was nine when I witnessed my first murder, and started carrying a gun when I was 13.

I turned 40 last month and I make around $1100 a week from my retirements. I had a GED all my life and I am going to college now to prepare myself for the next 40 years.

There are times when situations force us to suffer and times when we simply accept our lot in life. But, in America you can make a comfortable life if you try (barring a severe disability).

Poverty is like pregnancy....if you've never experienced it....you haven't got a clue what you're talking about.
You might have seen it....but you have never lived it.
You might have heard other people's stories....but you cannot relate because you haven't experienced it yourself.
I get so angry when I hear people talking about options and choices. Sometimes all of your options and choices can be lousy.
Whether anyone 'gets it' or not....many people are truly suffering...and they do NOT deserve it.

jacygirl

Originally posted by dorkfish87
reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck

 

From someone that does understand, and has been there, get over it.


We all make choices in our lives. You might not like the options, but that's life, make a choice and live with it. If you don't like your life change it. If that doesn't work try again. Sitting around complaining that your life sucks is counterproductive. Life sucks for everyone, rich people might have money, but few of them have character

Hows that bubble working for you?

Think about the legacy your leaving.

it's a perpetual circle.

Just my opinion but the west is going nowhere.

However there are countries that if they forget about being like the west, can actually move forward into a future
with the possibility of being almost eutopian.

Originally posted by wantsome
Your poor it must be your fault. I survive on less then $10k a year and I rely on the government for my lively hood. It's not by choice I was diagnosed with schizophrenia when I was 20. I started coming down with the illness when I was 17 so I was never able to finish school.

My whole life I've been surrounded by poor people some were better off then others. I grew up in a all white area 2 miles from the Detroit city limit. The poor people I grew up around never had a chance in this world. It's hard to focus on greater education when your fighting just to survive.

I had a friend named Nick whose mom use to come home drunk and beat the daylights out him. One day she pushed him down a flight of stairs and he broke both of his legs. It was never reported to the authorities or anything.

Another friend of mine named Jesse had a mom that was a crack head and she would leave him alone for weeks at a time. He didn't even have food in the fridge. Once in a while his dad would stay at home but when he did he dove to the bottom of a bottle of vodka. His dad ended up hanging himself naked in the front yard. Jesse's older brother bought him a gameboy one year for Xmas. It was the only thing Jesse owned. One day he came home to find his mother had stolen it.

I had another friend named Tony. His house burned down because the laundry basket got to close to the hot water tank. His family lost everything. They were forced to move into a trailer. Two adults and five kids lived in a small two bedroom trailer.

My buddy Jon graduated high school 4 years ago. He got good marks in school and really could have made something of himself. Instead he works at a job making $8 an hour. He supports his mother that has cancer and his younger brother that is still in school. He's 22 years old and never driven a car. Somedays his mother can't pick him up from work so he walks six miles home. Sometimes in 90 dig heat and sometime in 10 dig cold snow.

I hear it so often that this is the land of opertunity. Many people have the attitude I made it so can you.

I live 2 blocks from the city of Detroit. I see poverty every day. Half of the inner city is illiterate. Many people around me never stood a chance. It's hard to plan for the future when your fighting for survival from day to day.

Many people I've known became drug addicts are dead or in prison. Why care when you have no future.

edit on 3-1-2013 by wantsome because: (no reason given)

I'm poor. I didnt get here onmy own. I didnt do it by myself. The government helped me do it.

I completely get where you are coming from.

I was a part time student and full time mom. My other half was a millwright and the one bringing home the bacon, if you will. Life wasn't easy, but, the bills were paid and we all had the essentials, and, even a few extras.

My other half was at work and got sent back to a job site to retrieve a forgotten part. While waiting for oncoming traffic to clear in order to make a left hand turn, he and a coworker were hit at 60 mph by a 22 ft long refrigerated box truck. Every vertebrae in his thoracic spine was fractured and he suffered severe head trauma. The nine foot utility bed on the truck saved their lives.

Our lives were completely changed in an instant only a few days before Christmas. Why? Because that text message was more important than watching the road. The man who hit them walked out the hospital two hours later.

I cared for him and the children full time.

About two months later, I started to feel ill. I was incredibly fatigued and plagued by aches and pains. I didn't have time to be sick, so I ignored it as best I could. One morning it got to be unbearable, I awoke with pain unlike anything I have ever felt (and I have had kidney stones and natural childbirth. I know what real pain feels like.) and was diagnosed 2 days later with a progressive, degenerative, disabling form of arthritis at the ripe old age of 30.

Life changed again. I had a part time job, I was hired in the spring, but, I got fired in the fall for being too slow. Arthritis, especially when it comes on fast like mine did, can certainly slow you down.

So, I can agree that being poor isn't always a choice. Sometimes you try and try only to have things blow up in your face.

My best advice is try to get yourself in college, get a degree, and go from there.

reply to post by dorkfish87


I actually never said that it was my situation personally, but it's nice that you automatically assume that simply because I have empathy for people.

Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck
It just doesn't matter. Most of the people on here won't understand the concept of having to choose between pursuing your dreams or taking care of your family. And they'll get mad because they'll be like "oh I gave up my dream of being a rockstar/astronaut/pony/whatever for my wife/kids/to join the military to protect your ungrateful hide", failing to realize that this isn't the kind of dreaming I'm talking about at all. The kind of dreaming that I'm talking about is the simple dream where you're not constantly worrying about where the next meal comes from and how you'll get to work tomorrow.

This is so misguided. Do you really think people in the military think this way? There are ALL walks of life, but the few you have obviously encountered are also misguided. I served 13 years in the Navy - I'm a combat veteran. I never felt that way.

I spent SO much time away from my family. I missed anniversaries, birthdays, major events of my childs youth (like first words, first walks, etc). My occupation in the Navy wasn't what I wanted to do (even on a realistic level). I always wanted to work in the IT field, and for over a decade that goal was put on hiatus.

Now that I'm out, I cherish the time spent with my family. Military members understand more than ANYONE what it means to have the simple things in life - like spending time with your family and raising your kids - then almost anyone. Why? Because we are deprived of it, constantly.

Granted, we didn't have to worry about meals - but a lot of members don't have cars and had to deal with how to get to work everyday. And in the Military - if you don't show up to work it's kind of a bigger deal then getting fired from a private sector job, incase you didn't know that.

What I can say is that the my time in the service taught me many things. I witnessed first hand what drive, mission accomplishment and motivation mean, and how they apply to everyday life. I learned what it means to work as a team, to pool ALL of your resources to overcome obstacles and accomplish personal, team, command and National goals / missions. I've learned the value of planning, thinking ahead and considering all options on the table in order to achieve whatever goals are presented in front of me (regardless if they are mine or someone elses).

Along with that, I also think many people who haven't served don't have those traits and experiences. But they can be learned. I learned them. It can be done without having to serve in the Military - many successful people in the world have learned them without serving.

And yes, I attribute my current success to the traits, abilities and experiences I learned during my service.

reply to post by MrUncreated


I've been to a lot of shipholes in my life, but Charleston, W.Va, is for sure on the top of the list. It's the worst of everything.

Crime, pollution, poverty, drugs, prostitution compounded with lack of nutrition, education, and progress.

It would be better to have that place wiped from the Earth.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


I made the assumption because you were talking as if from experience

excuse me but... YOUR poor? seriously when people make some threads whether i agree with them or not, i tend not to pay too much attention to it if they dont even care for a basic spell check. Orthography Nazi i know but it hits bad to my eye..

Nobody ever said life was fari. i have 2 sisters that were the top of the class i was pretty much asked to leave school. But I went on for more edcaution and they didn't now they are stealing my mothers money and complaining that I don't help but they don't know I look at ma's account every couple of days online because they never progressd after school. Computers and smart phones are something they make jokes about. When I tell them what stocks are doing they complain because their Social Security isn't enough. You make life what you make it. I didn't set out to be rich but i have noticed most of the people with money enjoy working to make more.

Originally posted by cjttatu
reply to post by MrUncreated

 

Ah the big 'THEY'

Apathy is the new trend

The only answer is complete colapse.

slaves hhhmmmm ok

That's right. One of the so-called "THEY" happens to be senator of the state I live in. Jay Rockefeller. The moron who said the internet should never have existed. The man who became friends with Aaron Russo and divulged their master plan (RFID chips that replace money, track your whereabouts, and can be shut off to starve you if you become a dissident) was Nick Rockefeller. All of them are scum of the earth and should be lined up against a wall and shot.

reply to post by wantsome


What you have wrote is a prime example of why the system is so messed up and needs an overhaul.

They keep the system going by pitting us against each other and convincing us hard working folks that everyone else is lazy even when most of them are not they just don't have opportunity. I have not fallen for the trap and even though I work my tush off everyday and have since I was 12 selling candy door to door I don't look down on others even when some of them are just plain lazy. I think society needs to be restructured to eliminate the haves and have nots across the board. We need a new hybrid system that grants food/water/shelter/medical to every single human being living in this world whether they work or not. Yeah I said it....I know it sounds silly but there is no shortage of resources just control of them by power/money hungry people that are born into it or get lucky... and some of them hard work. Instead of working for the basics the basics should be granted for all of humanity then the more work the more perks are made available for you. The problem is the rich are too rich and the poor are to poor. The system that use to allow everyone opprotunity has failed due to the large separation between incomes. The rich have manipulated the system to make almost impossible to become one of them... Mean while they hide behind the I did it so can you B/S while at the same time forgetting that their MOMMY AND DADDY paid for their 4 year degree and bought their first car. The truth is if you are born into poverty you and the next generation will remain there. Hard work is something we should all put in but opprotunity has there be there as well... The majority have lost that opprotunity.

If anyone hasn't heard of Ruby Payne, I suggest you read up on her ideas a little. There are a few youtube videos of her speaking.

She has a book, among others, called A Framework for Poverty. It was required reading in more than one of my college classes. I have to say, if you decide you want to read it, it doesn't read like a text book by any means. It is very easy to read and extremely interesting. There are also a lot of quizzes in the book to see how much you know about living in poverty or living in the middle class.

Payne talks a lot about hidden rules. There are hidden rules for those in poverty, middle class, and upper class. It is very difficult for someone who is in one wealth class to move to another because of these hidden rules. A person in poverty can not understand middle class or upper class people because they have never been there. The same is true with the other classes.

People stick with what they know. If your parents are poor, all of your friends are poor, then you will stay poor. A person cannot magically jump to a different wealth class. You need resources to help you move. Resources can be things like government assistance but they can also be teachers, counselors, or anyone that can provide assistance and guidance.

Anyone can move out of their wealth class as long as they have sufficient resources to help them do so.

I don't really see what you consider as poor, Let me tell you a little about my life.

I was born in Iraq, In some of the most poorest places. I was born in Romadi, the place the US bombed with chemical bombs. Thank God I did not witness this as I was in Sweden. Me and my family flew to Sweden about 12 years ago, I was 8 at then. In Iraq we lived in a house made of mud, My father was a teacher for a few hundred children, We were still poor as the money given by parents for the children's study wasn't enough. But this did not prevent my father from doing his job, As money wasn't something he valued as precious. My father valued knowledge, This is what he wanted, He didn't want to become a millionaire, He wanted to become a man with more knowledge than others. We lived on bread every day, If we were lucky we had meat once a year to eat. We had to order water, And sometimes we had to rely on aid from the community. We played soccer barefoot in a hot desert sand filled with piece of stones and glass. Why is that even though, In Sweden I live in a very comfortable house, with a car, food enough to last me a year and money to buy every kind of technical device I want, I'm still not satisfied nor am I happy? The biggest reason is because money doesn't mean happiness. I was more happy playing in the hot desert barefoot than I am now fully dressed as a soccer player with a real football and shoes that are custom made for me.

You may have no money, But that doesn't mean you're poor. If you're an intellectual human being, You'd never consider yourself to be poor. As humans are born poor, They're born poor without any clothes on. When you're dead people won't remember your money, but they'll remember the knowledge they gained from you. Your actions that helped them, As giving money is a good deed it is always not the best.

And really, Why do rich people tend to go up to high buildings to kill themselves, I thought money bought happiness, Then why would a billionaire kill himself? That wouldn't make any sense at all.

Take some time, Look at the poor children of Africa or Gaza. If you really consider yourself poor, I think it's a mental issue you're having. You can't possibly be the poorest person on this earth, I think it's love that you're missing, not money.

reply to post by knowledgedesired


YES!! Excellent message.
I too believe that every single human being on this earth has a RIGHT to the basic necessities. We are born onto this planet with needs...food, shelter, medical care, etc. Who....and I mean WHO here has the right to say that anyone is less worthy or deserving of basic necessities?
I am sickened by the labels....lazy (for one). Walk a mile or two in someone else's shoes for a while.
jacygirl