Poverty...some thoughts

I know many of us have complained a lot about being “poor college students” or about being “poor” in general. I know my brother has often complained about our family being poor because he can’t have all the things he wants, and it bothers me not because I don’t want people to think my family is poor – but because he doesn’t know what poor is.

I know we’ve all been broke, in debt, out of cash, etc. We may have dipped our feet in the waters of poverty, but can we really claim to be poor as in impoverished while going to college? We’ve had the opportunity to be students of higher education which is a remarkable privilege even in the U.S., not to mention compared other places in the world.

“If you happen to be rich and you find you are left by your lover though you moan and you groan, quite a lot, you can take it on the chin, call a cab and begin to recover on your 14 karat yacht!”

I have a collection agency after to me to the tune of $400.00. This is a portion of unpaid medical bills not covered by insurance. I could have had them taken care of when I was unemployed, but the county sent me a ream of paperwork to go through to verify I didn’t qualify for any other government programs: Medicaid, social security, and I was too busy (or negligent) to follow through with the ream of paperwork. I was altogether consumed by finding a job – and then by having a job and working full time.

So now I have to pay up…and as I said in my first entry (which is the best one-you should read it) as a VISTA I make literally poverty wages. This term of service is supposed to be an experience of living in poverty. But I don’t feel like I’m living in poverty. Maybe because being a VISTA here in Moorhead has its advantages – or maybe it’s because I know that I have enough to survive. I can even afford to pay this *@#$! credit agency before the 29th of December.

Oh make no mistake it sucks to have to scratch $400.00. That’s money I could be spending on friends and family for Christmas or I could be saving to take myself on a trip. I could adopt and care for a stray cat for 400 bucks.

But instead I can choose to look around and say “Damn I’m lucky I can afford to pay that bill.” I mean, what would that credit agency do if I was one of the people at the Churches United Shelter I served breakfast to a few weeks ago? How does a credit agency contact you if you’re homeless?

I recently attended a “Hunger Banquet” at Concordia College for Homelessness and Hunger awareness week. It was one of those were 60% of the people sit on the floor and eat rice while one person present has a salad and lasagna and coffee and desert (and degrees in between). I was surprised to learn that one person represented an income of $50,000 a year. That’s not what we think of when we think of rich -we think of Bill Gates. We think of the 14 karat yacht.

But since going to that Hunger Banquet I’ve been doing some serious thinking about what it means when we complain about being “poor”. And who are we thinking of when we think of “the rich.” This wasn’t meant to be an essay on thanksgiving or anything. But I know the next time I start complain about being poor I’m going to stop and think about how rich I am.

Here are some good links:
http://www.bread.org/
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/nate_corddry/index.jhtml