Being Poor: A real perspective

L

Liberano

New member
Desh's silly list is so full of stereotypes, a few were true, but many were just plain wrong, not a big deal or needing some understanding.

So "Being Poor from a REAL poor person's perspective"

Being smart with your money is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is being tough with your kids and not spoiling them for asking for all the things they want on TV.

Being poor is not being able to afford a car.

Being poor is making sure you brush your teeth so that you don't get cavities and have to pay the dentist.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends' houses but making sure when other kids come over to your house that they are careful with things because you don't have money to replace them.

Being poor is not taking welfare money.

Being poor is living whereever is the best deal, if it happens to be next to the freeway then BFD.

Being poor is buying non name brand food.

Being poor is off-brand toys.

Being poor is turning down the heat at night and wearing sweaters, then watching rich Liberals preach conservation from their mansions.

Being smart is knowing you can't leave $5 on the coffee table with teenagers around.

Being poor is having hand me down clothes.

Being poor is not stealing meat from the store or anything else for that matter.

Being poor is keep wearing raggedy underwear that no one will ever see anyway and not bother shelling out dough for not critical underwear.

Being anyone is wanting more space for everyone who lives with you.

Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground and then going "Crap, I'll have to glue them again."

Being poor is your kid's school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning, which is hardly a big deal.

Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is not a bad deal but more importantly a step up and in the right direction.

Being poor is not relying on people who don't give a damn about you, but relying on yourself.

Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights, which is fine.

Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support, which he should be forced to pay.

Being poor is not a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet, but having all kids use the same bathwater.

Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger's trash or anything else good you can get and then feeling good that you got something of value for free. :)

Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw. Then thinking it's no worse than a fly.

Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference. Um no.

Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall. Who got angry at me for that? LOL

Being poor is not taking the job because you can't find someone you trust to watch your kids. BS, old ladies are a dime a dozen for babysitting.

Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours and getting rid of scum that you don't want your kid around anyway.

Being poor is not talking to that girl because she'll probably just laugh at your clothes. Girls shun on much more than this.

Being poor is not hoping you'll be invited for dinner, because poor people are not freeloaders.

Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it. True but what can you do?

Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk. Also true, many Liberals hear your tone and assume they need to be your saviour.

Being poor is WANTING that 35-cent raise.

Being poor is your kid's teacher assuming you don't have any books in your home. BS, cheap books are easy to come by.

Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and then resolving to cut back something else or look for a better job.

Being poor is swearing when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor and then making some more.

Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually stupid.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually lazy.

Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap.

Being poor and thrifty is never buying anything someone else hasn't bought first.

Being poor and thrifty is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that's two extra packages for every dollar.

Being poor is having to live with choices you didn't know you made when you were 14 years old. No one is stuck, more BS.

Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful. Grateful for what, charity I never took? More BS.

Being poor is knowing you're being judged.

Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from the dollar store. Lots of fun.

Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by. I still do that sometimes. :)

Being poor is deciding that it's all right to base a relationship on shelter. Could be for some. People do marry for economic need, not the end of the world there.

Being poor is knowing you really shouldn't spend that buck on a Lotto ticket. Because you shouldn't.

Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime. No.

Being a parent is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won't listen to you beg them against doing so.

Being a smoker is a cough that doesn't go away.

Being poor is cleaning up the spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up.

Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in. AHAHAHA, no such thing. You've obviously never done that.

Being stupid is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree knowing that there is a LOW chance of finding a job in that field.

Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.

Being poor is knowing where the shelter is. No.

Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so. No.

Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor. True, but it can be done with will.

Being poor is seeing how few options you have and using them to the best of your ability.

Being poor is running uphill slowly.
 
I don't think you know what poverty is.

You say you were poor, but your reaction to "stealing meat" spoke volumes. You were probably what is known as "college poor" - sustaining yourself on Ramen noodles & the like, but never really encountering true desperation.
 
I've seen the most gut-wrenching, hopeless poverty in America, but I've never had to live it.

The stuff you guys have been posting all day about poor people is all good and well, but I've seen people who would dream of the comforts you all seem to talk about. Kids who have to beg, steal, and lie to get money for a quick fix for their habits or a night's sleep at a friend's house. The poverty that follows addiction is unmatched.
 
YL, It is a bit difficult to help an addict, either one one drugs or alcohol.
But that is a different problem.

there are also rich addicts.
 
Onceler said:
I don't think you know what poverty is.

You say you were poor, but your reaction to "stealing meat" spoke volumes. You were probably what is known as "college poor" - sustaining yourself on Ramen noodles & the like, but never really encountering true desperation.
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Again, of the kids I knew that stole, they'd steal candy, chips and music. But meat? LOL. Just so oblivious to poor people.
 
Onceler said:
Like I said - you don't know poverty.

You really sound ridiculous.
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No you don't know poverty, you read Frank Rich and sneer at redneck poor America. You've never known poverty. I have and that's why I can call bullshit on plenty in that list.

uscitizen and leaningright were also poor, hell 2 generations ago MOST were poor, yet they stole far less in shoplifting. Do you deny that?
 
Liberano said:
No you don't know poverty, you read Frank Rich and sneer at redneck poor America. You've never known poverty. I have and that's why I can call bullshit on plenty in that list.

uscitizen and leaningright were also poor, hell 2 generations ago MOST were poor, yet they stole far less in shoplifting. Do you deny that?
Click to expand...

Most were poor ?
How does that work ?
 
Liberano said:
No you don't know poverty, you read Frank Rich and sneer at redneck poor America. You've never known poverty. I have and that's why I can call bullshit on plenty in that list.

uscitizen and leaningright were also poor, hell 2 generations ago MOST were poor, yet they stole far less in shoplifting. Do you deny that?
Click to expand...


You don't know anything about me. Trust me: you sound ridiculous, and I'm in a position to know that.

Maybe poor KIDS steal candy once in awhile, but poor people do steal meat & whatever food they can get their hands on when they are truly desperate.

We're talking about America in the year 2007, btw - not your fantasized pre-1920's world...
 
If you want a crash course in poverty follow these simple steps:

1) Walk to the shadiest part of the biggest city in your state.

2) Roam around until you see the shadiest looking guy you can find.

3) As him for a tenner of boy. Tell him u want to bang it not smoke/snort it.

4) Cook up, tie off, and shoot up. Experience the best feeling in your life.

5) Sit back, and over the next 6 months to one year you will learn more about poverty than you ever wanted to. You will sell your house, your car, your stocks. You will empty all of your bank accounts and start stealing or selling to get money to pay for your habit.

Eventually you will live on the street or at best in a crackhouse. It will seem like fun at first. Everyone coming and going, living fast and dangerously. People swearing eternal loyalty to one another during the high only to sober up the next day and realize you wouldn't walk across the street to piss on one of your "friends" if they were on fire.

Finally you will end up in an alleyway, shivering and shaking from withdrawal, weak and sickly from hunger, wondering how the fuck it ever came to this.
 
uscitizen said:
Most were poor ?
How does that work ?
Click to expand...

You know what I mean. 2 or 3 generations ago, people were more desperately poor with often no electricity or plumbing or what have you - YET that generation did not shoplift like this one does.

We are less poor than previous generations but there is more stealing. A lot of stealing is just bored middle class teenagers.
 
Onceler said:
You don't know anything about me. Trust me: you sound ridiculous, and I'm in a position to know that.

Maybe poor KIDS steal candy once in awhile, but poor people do steal meat & whatever food they can get their hands on when they are truly desperate.

We're talking about America in the year 2007, btw - not your fantasized pre-1920's world...
Click to expand...

This is what amazes me. It is obvious to anyone who can discern anything behind what someone is writing, that you were writing from some sort of personal aspect, whatever that might be and it's certainly no one's business.

But somehow, SuperDAno, knows everything about you, and he knows that you couldn't be.

I mean, for Christ Sakes.
 
"We are less poor than previous generations but there is more stealing. A lot of stealing is just bored middle class teenagers."


A conclusion based, no doubt, on extensive research, statistics & mountains of studies regarding poverty. Well done.
 
Young Libertarian said:
I've seen the most gut-wrenching, hopeless poverty in America, but I've never had to live it.

The stuff you guys have been posting all day about poor people is all good and well, but I've seen people who would dream of the comforts you all seem to talk about. Kids who have to beg, steal, and lie to get money for a quick fix for their habits or a night's sleep at a friend's house. The poverty that follows addiction is unmatched.
Click to expand...

you're absolutely right.
 
Onceler said:
"We are less poor than previous generations but there is more stealing. A lot of stealing is just bored middle class teenagers."


A conclusion based, no doubt, on extensive research, statistics & mountains of studies regarding poverty. Well done.
Click to expand...
LOL, if you can't debate the obvious - ask for stats!
I also think most posters on here are male, but since I have no proof of that it just can't be so.
 
Liberano said:
You know what I mean. 2 or 3 generations ago, people were more desperately poor with often no electricity or plumbing or what have you - YET that generation did not shoplift like this one does.

We are less poor than previous generations but there is more stealing. A lot of stealing is just bored middle class teenagers.
Click to expand...
Umm George Washington did not have electricity either , was he poor ?

You do not understand what poor is.
 
Liberano said:
LOL, if you can't debate the obvious - ask for stats!
I also think most posters on here are male, but since I have no proof of that it just can't be so.
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Your "obvious" is a bunch of BS you make up in the misguided idea that it "supports" your outlandish statements.

Do you really think anyone believes that you know a bunch of poor people who are all stealing candy??? It's constant with you. It's become a joke Dano.
 
uscitizen said:
Umm George Washington did not have electricity either , was he poor ?

You do not understand what poor is.
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Many people had electricity and plumbing in the 30's and 40's, but a lot of poor people did not. Yet there was less shoplifting.

I'm kind of surprised you'd argue this, just about all old people I know were raised with less than this generation and they always say how this generation is more lawbreaking.
 
Darla said:
Your "obvious" is a bunch of BS you make up in the misguided idea that it "supports" your outlandish statements.

Do you really think anyone believes that you know a bunch of poor people who are all stealing candy??? It's constant with you. It's become a joke Dano.
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Did I say "all", where did I say "all"?
I said "of those I knew who stole".

Your argument is just based on lies.
 
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