Baalzamon said: My attitude regarding this is based on seeing and hearing oftentimes what people who struggle live like.
It's based on seeing people go out every weekend. Drive new cars. Live in giant houses. Buy lottery tickets. Smoke cigarettes. Buy $5 coffees. Get brand new electronics all the time. Eating out all the time. Screw around at work and manage to get fired. Be jobless and refuse to apply for temp jobs that are "below" them. Go on expensive vacations. Have more kids than a normal person could afford. Doing drugs. Drinking too much. Getting $100 gym memberships instead of exercising outside. Getting pets they can't afford. (Do you get the point here, I can go on, but these are things that even many families pulling in $20k a year partake in).
This isn't an all inclusive thing. I get it, some people have really SHITTY circumstances that can result in life becoming very difficult. But the large majority of people? They make CHOICES, which then result in them struggling. |
I don't know what "this" in the first paragraph refers to, but this post really just seems like a bunch of crude stereotypes that some wealthier people have about poorer people. Being someone who has never lived above the poverty line at any point in my life, I feel almost morally obliged to respond.
I think that if you examine the broad scope of things, you'll find that poverty is something that tends to occur geographically more than it does individually. Most people in my community, for example, live below the poverty line and it's been that way for a generation now. We're an old coal town that no longer mines is the deal. The other jobs locally available that the average people here are qualified for are like what I do, which is bagging groceries. Or you can serve food. That sort of thing. Not exactly lucrative sources of employment.
Do personal life errors factor in in any given case? I'd say yes, absolutely! I, for example, was unable to find the right major for me after three years in college and ran way past out of money, so I gave up and decided to just start focusing on earning money in the now. BAD move! As a result of that decision, I'm not in much of a position to move out to somewhere with better employment opportunities because I'm an unskilled laborer. I've also made other, very poor decisions in life that probably the average American wouldn't have. Like many others in my community, I've gotten caught up in illicit side work in somewhat desperate bids at achieving a higher, more livable income level, which didn't work out at all because I wound up struggling with drugs, which consumed a whole episode of my life. So yeah, personal decisions can definitely be a major factor, I agree. But...*sighs*...honestly, is it not human to make mistakes, especially under rather adverse circumstances? Do people have to be perfect to deserve to survive in your view?
I mean, yeah, I buy (mostly cheap) video games and stuff sometimes and my TV is way nicer than the rest of my house is. Meanwhile I have to hunt for a quarter of my food every month, typically. I guess it's possible to look at that type of situation and see a contradiction. Why do I have a nice thing or two when I could instead focus all my income on paying down debts and doing home repairs and such and be left with nothing to bring me any joy, any outlet whatsoever instead? Wouldn't that be a more logical option? Shouldn't I just dissociate myself from the present entirely and live wholly for a better future that supposedly might arrive someday? Well guess what, that hypothetical better future will never arrive. Not at anything resembling my current rate of income. I have no future. My whole town has no future. This whole place is just going to literally die out eventually and become a ghost town.
Guess what I'm saying is that I'm human. I have to have some fun in life or I'll go nuts. Hell, between my PTSD, major depressive disorder, and other fun stuff like that (I have flashbacks, I barely sleep and generally have nightmares when I do, etc. etc.) I'm like two-thirds of the way there already, I'm pretty sure! Anyhow, maybe it's irresponsible for me to want a break from just working all the time for negative material progress, mourning everyone I've lost and my failure to marry and have kids like everyone predicted, reflecting on all my other failures in life, and trying unsuccessfully to have friends because nobody can deal with all the baggage I've amassed (which I completely understand to be honest; I barely manage it all myself), I don't know.
Well without boring you anymore with personal woes, I guess I'd just like to be thought of as a person and not just as a failure, not just "trash" as they say. I have the feeling that for you, living within your means involves having a lot more means than what I've got going for me. It's easy to sanctimoniously preach and condemn from the outside of poverty. It's not as easy to actually have to navigate it.
Last edited by Jaicee - on 04 January 2020