About being poor

[Thatchatch]

This spot’s been usused in 2+ months, so why not… it is hard to ‘categorize’ such a collection of thoughts anyway.

The following collection of thoughts about ‘Being Poor’ is by John Scalzi, and is reproduced with permission, just because I thought that you’d enjoy sharing it with me.

I’m quite sure that it’ll hit some spots for several of us, and many will relate to some items; I do. Also you’re invited to add some of your thoughts to the list; mine is: “Being poor is when it’s a big deal to be treated at MacDonalds : ) Here’s for you to read, think about, or be our guests and add to that list; some humor is cool too.



Being Poor

Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they're what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there's not an $800 car in America that's worth a damn.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends' houses but never has friends over to yours.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won't hear you say "I get free lunch" when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is living next to the freeway.

Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.

Being poor is wondering if your well-off sibling is lying when he says he doesn't mind when you ask for help.

Being poor is off-brand toys.

Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.

Being poor is knowing you can't leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around.

Being poor is hoping your kids don't have a growth spurt.

Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn't have make dinner tonight because you're not ry anyway.

Being poor is Goodwill underwear.

Being poor is not enough 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.

Being poor is your kid's school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.

Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.

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

Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights.

Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support.

Being poor is a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet.

Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger's trash.

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.

Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.

Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.

Being poor is not taking the job because you can't find someone you trust to watch your kids.

Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.

Being poor is not talking to that girl because she'll probably just laugh at your clothes.

Being poor is hoping you'll be invited for dinner.

Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.

Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.

Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise.

Being poor is your kid's teacher assuming you don't have any books in your home.

Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.

Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.

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 is never buying anything someone else hasn't bought first.

Being poor 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.

Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.

Being poor is knowing you're being judged.

Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.

Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.

Being poor is deciding that it's all right to base a relationship on shelter.

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

Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime.

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

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

Being poor is making sure you don't 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.

Being poor is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.

Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.

Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.

Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.

Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.

Being poor is seeing how few options you have.

Being poor is running in place.

Being poor is people wondering why you didn't leave.


John Scalzi



John Scalzi lives close to Nature in Ohio with his wife Kristine, daughter Athena and their pets. John was a Hugo Award top finalist (no small feat), and captured the Campbell Award in 2006 for his novel Old Man’s War. His sequel, The Ghost Brigades, which can be read as stand-alone, and written this year, will most certainly rank high for the Hugo once more, and for the Nebula Award as well in 2007.

His blog, one of the oldest and most followed on the Internet is: Whatever his home page, Scalzi.com -- The online home of writer John Scalzi, is adorned by a pretty little girl, daughter Athena, with a rainbow above her head on the horizon.

Why not add some of your own thoughts on the lighter (or serious) side of being poor? I could (or you could) submit them for his consideration in adding them to his list.

With regards,



And Holiday cheers,

[skinski]

Being poor is knowing that if you miss one day of work , you wont have enough to pay the light bill.

Being poor is eating pinto beans and cornbread three times a week , not because you like'm that much , but they sure feel a gut up......

[bartongrl1]

Being rich is having learned to do things on your own instead of having a maid do them for you.

Being rich is being able to take what you do have in the cupboard and fridge and making a big wonderful dinner from it instead of ordering out.

Being rich is watching a beautiful sunrise or sunset which the rich people miss simply because they stayed too late at a party and seeing a sunrise is a total accident because thats what time they got home.

Being rich is quality time spent reading to your children simply because they arent babysat by a computer or sega games.

Being rich, mon ami, is having great friends instead of the acquaintances the rich have.

Being rich is seeing a mountain with a waterfall surrounded by trees which most people miss while looking for good times.

Being rich is loading the kids in your cheap car and taking them to the country on a picnic.

Being rich is laughter, and babies, and family.

Being rich is doing something you do that you totally enjoy. And doing it well.

Being rich is marrying someone that loves you and not having to sign a pre-nuptial agreement.

Being rich is giving a gift you made with your own two hands, and came from the heart as opposed to gifts given from Neiman Marcus or Bloomingdales.

Although I am far from being rich in the worldly way, I am rich in so many other ways, and I prefer being rich in those ways.

And this holiday season and everyday of the year, we should try to help those that meet the criteria of Thatch and Scalzis list. That will make you rich in all the right ways.

[Thatchatch]

“Being rich, mon ami, is having great friends…”

That's oh, so true, ma petite amie : ) The poor can be as rich as millionaires in many ways. It's said that money can’t buy happiness - only that without enough of it, life can be quite a challenge! But winning in the face of adversity is always rewarding - even if it only makes you feel good inside; pride itself is a great motivator IMHO.

Yea, I’ve been there Skinski… especially my last year of college… too proud to beg my family, this was my secret; the cost of my books had eaten my goverment's loan and grant months past. I was mopping restaurant floors until 2-4 AM; one meal was a certainty: even if it was plain noodles (though sometimes I did luck into good stuff, like soups and stews). After my rent was paid, a room by the week, I barely had anything left.

My only other meal was from a can: sardines and beans were the best buys, along with bread - sardine sandwich anyone? - mustard sandwiches, I recall as well… That went on for most of my last semester… To this day I still cringe at the sight of cans of beans or cheap sardines.

So I’ll add:

Being poor is not knowing what it is to be really down and out, and being broke, with no end to it in sight.

Being rich is to know how to survive on almost nothing, never quit, battle and win the hard way!

May as well make light of it all...

*Ahem* “We were so poor - and I had no toys to play with… so I thank God that I was born a little boy!” (?!) Bad boy! ; )


Anyone else? How about the ‘lighter side’ of being poor… or rich…?



Regards,


And Holiday cheers!