Perpetual poverty.

• what peculiarities go with being an MT? - sm
  • I used to be nice. (no message) - anotta
  • Perpetual poverty. - n/m
  • No social life. I now have a fear going out in public! Working from home for 8 years now will do t - DS
  • weight gain and depression!!! nm - Amanda
    • Hemorrhoids and spider veins, too! - Yep
    • Tinnitus and carpal tunnel.... - Ella (retired CMT)
  • all of the above, and tinnitus, depression. (nm) - anon
  • I agree with the first three....but not the last one... - MtMommyof2
    • Oh yeah, that reminds me.... - Ella (again)
  • Me too... all of the above! NM - Peculiartoo.
    • noise sensitive - grasshopper
      • Isolation, backaches, carpal tunnel, eyestrain sm - anonamiss
        • The MT world - QA
          • MT world of fun - PT AT MQ

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Do you believe that:

A:  Poverty is mostly the result of poor choices in life, either by yourself or by your parents and grandparents before you, thereby setting up the vicious cycle.  Early parenthood, out-of-wedlock births, no father in the home, recycled boyfriends in and out of a home, lack of early childhood stimulation with books/toys, lack of routine and academic expectations, etc. 

OR

B:  Poverty is societal.  Poor people have no choices in America and no real opportunity or ability to raise themselves out of poverty.  The way to end poverty is to increase social programs until people are not living in poverty anymore.  Poverty is societies fault and the government's fault and therefore theirs to fix.

I am one of 6 born to parents who (yes, the same for all 6) who were both born in the same low income area of town, little education past 6th grade, yet what attracted my parents to each other in the beginning was there committment to do better for themselves and get out.  Yes, they started having us kids at a young age (hormones, lack of sex education, etc), but they raised us all with love, in the church and the strong faith that with hard work, we all could do better.  It was'nt easy, going to school in hand me downs, not having the nicest things, but with love and committment,  all of us kids got our education and all graduated from college, some 2yrs, some 4.  My parents were so proud of us but as we got older and dared to speak up to daddy (very firm man), we kinda said...you demand the knowledge for us, then we demand the same for you.  My parents did eventually get their GED's and you would have thought they graduated from Harvard.(I swear daddy did it as a challenge more to not let us kids down).just the same in our book that they even took the challenge. It has opened up such a world for them both, if we can't find mom, she's usually at the library lol.

As I got older I realized that yes, we did get help with food stamps when bills were high but both my parents worked long hours to make ends meet and we were loved and cared for, sometimes rebelling against the strictness, but looking back, I see why. 

On the other hand, I can look at some of my aunts, uncles and cousins, the ones who kept believing my grandmother, who beat it into my dad and his siblings heads that they "won't mount to much, ya never gonna make it out here, so quit dreaming and just let the govrnment folk take care of you"!  I love granny dearly but that is the mentality that She was raised with.  The cycle broke with my Dad and one other Aunt, but ironically, that has caused an uneasy distance from the rest of the family, including granny who not once attended any of the graduations.  We're the "high falooting book smart kin" who are too good to come home...not, we just would like to have them at our homes sometimes and it hurts.  It hurts to see my extended family living in the lowest part of town, can't watch the news anymore because of all the shootings, drug busts, etc and we tend to hear from the cousins and their kids when they call from jail needing bail.

Thank God some of my cousins did come to live with us over the years and they are now educated, productive citizens, living a decent life who have broken that cycle of mentality & poverty.  It's a struggle when you are born into nothing, are told you never will have anything, look around you and see nothing but the projects, drugs and poverty and see the programs that are offered but your parent or parents are suspicious of, therefore keeping the chains on.  This coming from my cousins.

Ok, sorry, did not mean to ramble on and on, just wanting to answer from the inside that I've heard about growing up.

I grew up in poverty, much like Loretta Lynn in Coal Miners Daughter.  I mean poverty.....pair of shoes a year, you name it, yet I never murdered anyone, nobody in my family murdered anyone, we didn't rob the local gas station, we didn't murder tourists.  We also didn't hang around on the street corner selling drugs.  We worked, all of us, doing whatever it took to survive and not a one of us ever collected public assistance.  In fact I had never heard of public assistance until I was in my 20s and had moved out of state to Texas and saw somebody using food stamps and didn't know what they were!  I thought Texas had a special colored money different from the "green" I was used to seeing.

Education doesn't cost a dime. I don't care if you have to wear clothes with holes in them, it's your MIND that matters, not what you wear to school.   College is just about free for anybody who wants to go with special programs especially for single mothers, minorities, and those under certain income levels.  I loved learning from a very young age and with my own children, school comes first above and beyond all other activities.  They work for what they want, both inside the home and out. I have four, not one has ever been in trouble, not one drinks or smokes.  So saying poverty breeds violence is an excuse.  What people need are parents with responsibility, and having 5 or more children out of wedlock by different fathers is not responsible.  Not working is not being responsible. Not setting boundaries for your children is not responsible.   I know many all-white absolutely destitute areas in coal country and you can drive through there without getting shot, mugged, or having your car stolen.   I knew many nurses in the New Orleans area who grew up in the projects, went to college and decided they wouldn't raise their children like that.  That's responsibility. Not letting your pre teen and teen children run the streets at all hours, that's responsibility.  Working and showing your children you can succeed with schooling and working, that's responsibility.  Not showing up at school yelling prejudice because your child smacked a teacher and got expelled, that's responsibility.

I did a quick search for crime stats and found this:

http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp?city=New+Orleans&state=LA

Also, my ex is in the national guard in Texas and was there when people were relocated to help keep order.  He saw people dragging in televisions, designer clothes and shoes, etc., all with the vouchers they were given to find housing.   Texas welcomed people with open arms and a small percentage did find housing and went back to work, but the larger majority wasted the money and then were extremely upset that there was no more.   These were people of all races.  One businessman offered his home to a white family of 7 and told them they didn't have to pay until they went to work.  Four months later they still weren't working and when he went in the house to do a repair they requested, the house had been ruined, totally.  Carpets burned and stained, holes in the walls, absolute filth.  The home was worth 256,000 when he provided it to them, and after the finally got them out it took him just under 100,000 to redo the destruction.  Once again, poverty is no excuse!   They should have taken the opportunity to look for work and been happy they were in a great neighborhood outside of Houston with good schools and good churches, full community support.  I have an illness that will kill me and I'm in pain daily, but I work and I'll keep working until I drop.  I couldn't anymore support my family on Disability than sprout wings and fly.   It all depends on mindset and determination and nobody told me when I was born that I should expect our government to just hand me everything and I can sit back and do nothing. 

So many of us do not know what it is like to live in poverty

All and all, AMERICA IS THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE!!!!!  THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY!!!!