The Worst Thing About Being Poor?

There are many bad things about being poor. There is the general perception that you're lazy, even though you work all day, every day, including on the weekends, just to make ends met, and just barely.  There is the perception that you're not smart, because after all, if you were smart wouldn't you be in a better position? That's what they want you to believe, so you believe it and as you live it, you come to believe it even more.

Then there are the day to day things that eat away at your resolve, confidence and ability to face each day. It's always something and there is never a break. It is the oven that breaks and the fact that you don't have the means to replace it. It's the fact that due to your inability you can't make some staple and inexpensive dishes because you don't have an oven. This kind of Catch-22 is a way of life.

You have late fees because you couldn't pay on time. You can't pay the next bill on time because of the accumulation of late fees. And so it goes, round and round. You need to move because you're rent goes up, but it costs too much up to move, and you have to have it all at once, so you're stuck paying more than you can each month. You're stuck. That is what sinks in each day as you face these situations. You are stuck.

But perhaps the single worst thing about being poor is that you look at your children, so smart and hopeful and know that you can't offer them anything. You can work yourself until you're broken and all you can do is keep the roof and lights, nothing more. You see their potential from your own limitations. If you earned more, if you had less debt, if you had a role model when you were younger to show you a few things... a million other little contributions to your situation.

It feels like you're alone and then you look around and see millions more in these shoes. How many children out there are like mine, so creative and intelligent but limited by the caste system we have in America?

Don't be fooled, the American dream was never a reality, it was hope held out like carrots at horse races, keeping workers busy and forcing them to live by hope. Sure, some people have broken free of the castes they were born into, but instead of just believing that to be true, investigate a bit on your own. You'll notice something alarming.... very few people truly break out of the cycles they were born into.

The rich recruit and promote from within. We aren't welcome. We can do the chores and make things pretty, but that's it. This realization, and the world we pass to our children, is the worst thing I can think of when it comes to being poor in America.