Do I Smell Poor?
Sat, 03 May 2008.
Welfare is, as I understand it, financial aid given to those who we deem require it. Money doesn’t grow on trees so I guess we need to take money from those that have it and give it to those who don’t. There’s a lot to argue inside this space because sometimes the government takes too much, sometimes it gives too much and the rest of the time the money is completely mismanaged and you lose faith in the system. Great, great. There should be a lot of healthy debate about how the money is spent.
I know a guy who is of the opinion that welfare is largely unnecessary. He said something along the lines of having his money taken from him at gunpoint. I may be misrepresenting him here because I did not do my due diligence and ask him to elaborate further. Honestly, I was just in shock after hearing that statement because my parents worked their asses off and relied on government handouts to make a decent lower-middle-class living. I can’t imagine where we’d be without the assistance.
So maybe this guy has some legitimate gripes. I don’t know his story. Maybe he’s seen the government waste and corporate greed firsthand. Maybe things are done different here in the United States.
Fast forward to a second of such conversations. Such honest wisdom: “I always thought poor people were poor because they didn’t want to work any harder,” and, “I don’t really believe in minimum wage because some jobs just aren’t worth minimum wage.” Again, I was in a state of shock. I don’t know what else to call it. Something rammed into my head at full force and the world went white and all I know now is that I’m on my back staring up at the night sky.
It was as if a grown man had walked over and asked how babies were made. There is far too much to fill you in on, buddy. I really don’t care enough to lecture you about the mechanics of procreation. Besides, I’ve never made a baby so I’m probably the wrong guy to ask. I can only recite what books and TV have taught me.
Honestly? You don’t have to look very hard to see the widening gap between the rich and the poor. There’s plenty of room for debate on how to deal with it but these views this guy expresses is just completely off my radar. Maybe they extend from some sort of hyper-idealism where everyone is born into the same wealth and the world is a gracious meritocracy or perhaps it’s some cynical “every man for himself” deal where if you don’t have enough then you can suck it because I got mine. I don’t know, I don’t really care to know, it’s too much for me to think about.
I live in a small town with many people who are on welfare. They do not have jobs, have no intentions of getting them, and they rely on the government’s money to feed their addictions, not their children. Perhaps the people who take advantage of welfare to the point of abusing are who your friend was talking about.
From a personal point of view, government assistance is what got me through university. My parents are farmers that were stuck in the middle of one of the worst droughts in history. I’m hugely grateful that I had the assistance at the time. Tough times indeed.
On the other hand, I found it frustrating to see my best friend in high school perpetually in poverty. In particular his parents were reluctant to work because it would result in them getting less money from the government. Their mindset was stuck on just getting their handouts every week rather than trying to get to a point where they didn’t need to depend on them.
I guess it’s hard to see this far ahead when you’re living handout to handout.
Also, I read an article a while ago which looks at the economics of being poor… definitely worth a read: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/03/30/the_sting_of_poverty/
Newton’s First Law of Motion states (in my own words): If something is in motion, it will keep moving unless there is a force that stops it from that motion.
It’s human nature to be selfish, but it’s the greed of the rich and the unwillingness of the poor that drives the divide further and further apart.
Of course that’s only a generalization, i’m sure there are people who strive to break free from that cycle on both sides.
It saddens me how closed-minded so many folks are. People don’t realize that even THEY could end up in the poor house and then just snub those that are.
It grosses me out.
A lot.
A sensible approach, Jack.
When I went from California to the Mid West I began to hear a lot of these opinions that I just “didn’t want to get into”. Things such as religion, homosexuality, gender roles, racial stereotypes… oh, it was an unending streak of topics that I just thought I couldn’t get into. Unfortunately some people need to experience things before they can come to a good conclusion about them, until then, they’ll be overly idealistic and assume that because life treats them fairly, the world is fair.