What do you think about people who live in poverty?

[KillerMuffin]

When you think of the poor, what kind of person do you mentally picture? What does this person(s) look like to you? Where do they live? Why do you think they're poor? What kind of character do the poor have?

 

[Guest]

 

[Bob_Bytchin]

When you think of the poor, what kind of person do you mentally picture? What does this person(s) look like to you? Where do they live? Why do you think they're poor? What kind of character do the poor have?

Interesting question. I know a lot of people below the poverty line, and they are just normal people. Some of them are there because they are lazy...some are there because of a temporary inconvenience.

I'm by no means a rich person, but I'm not poor either. I think that bad character traits cross all class boundries...they aren't limited to the poor.

Here, in this town, the poor tend to live amongst themselves, but that's mainly because the cheap housing is all concentrated in one area.

 

[Countess DeWinter]

Wealth isn't everything...

I think poverty is just as heritable as wealth.

I work with a lot of people who may be poor, but they are proud, have great dignity and are decent people. I also know people who are fairly well off who seem to have their hand perpetually out.

 

[curious2c]

I see men and women in old torn clothes. hunger in their eyes, children barefoot and potbellied from malnutrition.
I see desperation in eyes, hooded looks of want. Pride has been washed away and the soul bared.
I see people that for lack of what ever in their lives have needs that are basic, and those needs are not getting fulfilled.
I see corporate greed taking away life from the poor due to the insipid intolerance of the rich. (not all rich are bad, nor am I saying that one shouldn't try to achieve wealth, just should ealize it needs to be spread around a bit too.) Coporate greed is those companies that take and take with no real giving back to the very people they take from.
I see pain, fear,death,lost souls that for some reason just missed the boat.
I see hard, short lives with much better just a hand away.

Wow, where did that all come from?


Oh, I spent a bit living out of the back seat of my car and it was not my fondest memory. It took years to pull myself out of that hole.

 

[lost]

The same thing as I see in mirror.

When I think of poor I really don't think of people that live in the US (with some exceptions). I think of third world counties, where war, their ecocomies or even simply having the wrong parents keeps people in a world of poverty.

 

[intrigued]

I see someone living a very hard life. No one truly wants that kind of life, unless they are someone that is so broken and so out of hope, that they just don't care anymore.
Some are born into it, some don't know any better, some fall into it by forces that for the most part, are out of their hands. Some just want that solitude that they know comes with it. But most of all, whatever their character is, underneath it all is strength. Poverty is a very hard life....to survive it takes a backbone of steel. Some may argue that the impoverished grow complacent and numb. I agree on some levels, but when you think of how little they have to work with to pass their time, how one moment varies little from one 6 hours from now, how it all blurs into one massive sameness, just think what must go on in their minds to survive that monotony. Think what a struggle it is to meet the needs of their families, to do the simplest little nice thing for them to make them feel special...to just keep going minute by minute.

I lived that life, i've lived from moment to moment, day to day, and there was a time that I had no home. Those are times that I am very proud of...I learned just exactly what I'm made of. When my back is to the wall, thats when I come out fighting, and I did.
It's also when I experienced the kindness of strangers the most, and thats why I am the appreciative person I am today. I will never forget one single person that gave me a hand. I've seen human beings doing extrodinary things that impacted my life and turned it around, when they didn't have to do a damn thing but look the other way.

I've also lived well and securely, for the most part. Of all the ways I've lived, its the tough times that speak the loudest, and that I remember every single second of. Its the tough times that are the measure of a man....

KM...I am hurrying, I have no idea if I addressed your post correctly.

 

[SINthysist]

I see myself as I once was and try not to put myself above them since they too posses that which it takes to succeed should they decide to succeed.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Don't worry about it Intrigued. I'm reading my sociology text and sometimes the authors don't make sense and I'd like a little more perspective from real people who don't habitually carry clipboards and questionnaires. There's no wrong way to answer the question since I'm just interested in what you think.

 

[Rubyfruit]

.

 

[REDWAVE]

A little metaphor for you

They are to an enormous powderkeg what I am to the spark that lights the fuse.

 

[HomerPindar]

When you think of the poor, what kind of person do you mentally picture? What does this person(s) look like to you? Where do they live? Why do you think they're poor? What kind of character do the poor have?

What timing...

As I work on my sociology paper (one of my majors) on the shrinking middle class, allow me to add my two cents (or I might start citing sources ).

How do I see the poor?
Getting more and more every day. Poverty is not restricted to a lack of employment, many poor work full time but cannot keep up with thecost of living. And more and more of the "middle class" will find themselves closer to, or under, the poverty line (whether it is defined as an economic, prestige, or power line) every year.

HomerPindar

 

[HomerPindar]

Re: A little metaphor for you

They are to an enormous powderkeg what I am to the spark that lights the fuse.

just saw this as I scrolled back up...and had to add~

REDWAVE, you kick ass

HomerPindar

 

[REDWAVE]

Thanks, Homer. But as Mr. Natural once said "Kicking asses all day is hard work!"

 

[april-wine]

It's odd that you have posed this specific question just today Muffie....I was out taking my dad shopping earlier today....Theres a woman I have seen a few times, she pushes a shopping cart of her life belongings....She has no home, she has no money, just the cart and some clothes....My father and I witnessed her trying to clean her clothes in the fountain at a cemetery, the grounds staff there were giving her a hard time....We pulled over and assured the grounds staff it would be fine....My dad walked the couple of blocks to the laundromat with her and made sure she had the money to operate the machines....I waited out front, watching through the window, just smiling....

 

[lisalove]

I guess it depends on how one defines poor. I don't feel that there is true poverty in North America. Certainly it may appear that way and many live in shacks or worse, but resources are always available.

If we compare ourselves to many other countries and the conditions in which people live and die, we would never consider ourselves impoverished.

 

[Guest]

 

[sigh]

It's odd that you have posed this specific question just today Muffie....I was out taking my dad shopping earlier today....Theres a woman I have seen a few times, she pushes a shopping cart of her life belongings....She has no home, she has no money, just the cart and some clothes....My father and I witnessed her trying to clean her clothes in the fountain at a cemetery, the grounds staff there were giving her a hard time....We pulled over and assured the grounds staff it would be fine....My dad walked the couple of blocks to the laundromat with her and made sure she had the money to operate the machines....I waited out front, watching through the window, just smiling....

Somehow, april, that's exactly the sort of father I imagined you having. He passed on his best qualities, I see.

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

Originally posted by KillerMuffin When you think of the poor, what kind of person do you mentally picture?

I don't have to mentally picture anybody - all I have to do is look in the mirror.

What does this person(s) look like to you?

About 6'6", balding, somewhat out of shape.

Where do they live?

Someplace wet and cold - I wish it was warm and dry.

Why do you think they're poor?

Various reasons: the winds of fate combined with the stupid decision to not hit the ground running after I got laid off last year.

What kind of character do the poor have?

Enigmatic.

 

[SilvaTungDevil]

Ya know, I'm a psychiatric social worker. Specifically, I work on a grant that assists homeless folks with mental illness to find housing. I spend a good deal of my day in homeless camps right smack dab in the middle of America. Most of my folks have recently been cut off from foodstamps due to welfare reform. It takes about 6mos. to get through the disability process and during that time, if you work, you jeapordize your chance of getting benefits. Most of the time, despite severity of disablement, these applicants are rejected out of hand and have to begin an appeal that will last 6-18mos. and also incur lawyer fees. During this time, if one is lucky, they might qualify for general relief which is $80 per month. How do they eat? Soup kitchens and charity food. How do they clothe themselves? Mostly throwaway rags and again charity. They do get by, but I've had 10 or so die over the years from exposure or general lack of self care. Lazy? I rarely see that. Hopeless? Always. For those who think we have no problem with poverty in America, think again. Find your local homeless camp and take a look around at the trash and human excrement. They're not pretty places.

 

[Problem Child]

Re: A little metaphor for you

They are to an enormous powderkeg what I am to the spark that lights the fuse.

You are an enormous fool with illusions of grandeur.

 

[SilvaTungDevil]

I got all uppity and forgot I was here to have fun. So here is a naked green monkey goddess.

 

[SINthysist]

In the classic Anatomy of Revolution, it is pointed out that no Revolution ever begins with the poor. It begins when the middle class senses that it will become poor or denied access to the upper class.

The poor simply struggle to survive in the revolutionary sense. So you need to re-tool and re-target your vocabulary to hide your real goals and sell them to the middle class. i would sugest you study the Clintons, your natural allies, to learn how to properly deceive people...

 

[REDWAVE]

Education, not deception

I'm not about deceiving people. I'm about getting them to realize and face the truth, and then DO what needs to be done. . .

Anyway, if you were to read that article I provided a link to in my thread, SIN, you'd see that is precisely what is happening now. Not only are the poor getting poorer, but many in the middle classes are falling down into poverty, or are afraid of doing so.

Ruby, I wish you hadn't edited out your post, although I can understand why. But I read it, and I remember what you said.

Great post, STD. Nice green boobies, too.

 

[SINthysist]

Our poor?

Please compare them to somebody REAL poor.

Poverty doesn't have obesity as a side-effect.