Being Poor

• Phunkie wrote on 2010-09-21 17:20
  It's a blog entry I found and I thought it was relevant, since there's so many poor people in the world.
  
  Do any of you relate to some of these? I know Kitae might and I personally do too.
  
  
  

  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 hungry 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.

  
  
  Being Poor Whatever
• Cannibal wrote on 2010-09-21 17:22
  Hey, my car was $500 and works fine. >:l
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2010-09-21 17:27
  There is always someone poorer than you if you can read this thread.
• Chillax wrote on 2010-09-21 17:28

  Quote from Sin;162004:

  Hey, my car was $500 and works fine. >:l

  
  
  What model, and how far do you drive it?
• Cannibal wrote on 2010-09-21 17:37

  Quote from Chillax;162006:

  What model, and how far do you drive it?

  
  1995 Chevy Lumina.
  It's my primary source of transportation. 20 miles to school and 20 miles back, and whenever I need to go out.
• Chillax wrote on 2010-09-21 17:45

  Quote from Sin;162012:

  1995 Chevy Lumina.
  It's my primary source of transportation. 20 miles to school and 20 miles back, and whenever I need to go out.

  
  
  Some people need to drive at least 80 miles/day with a crappy car and don't have a garage for their car or the money for its maintenance. Most cars can't handle that wear and tear.
• Cannibal wrote on 2010-09-21 17:48

  Quote from Chillax;162023:

  Some people need to drive at least 80 miles/day with a crappy car and don't have a garage for their car or the money for its maintenance. Most cars can't handle that wear and tear.

  
  I understand this, but I was simply replying to the "$800 car" thing, I wasn't getting into details with it.
• Byte wrote on 2010-09-21 17:49
  Yea, I was going to quote these, but 99% of them are BS.
  
  You can't have someone who's rich make up a list like this. It's sad... very sad.
• Phunkie wrote on 2010-09-21 17:50
  What do you mean? That they're not true?
• Zid wrote on 2010-09-21 17:51

  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.

  
  
  Got one as a hand-me-down. Doesn't break.
  
  

  Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.
  
  Being poor is a cough that doesn’t go away.
  
  Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.

  
  
  =|
  
  

  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 knowing you can’t leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around.
  
  Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground.
  
  Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger’s trash.
  
  Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.
  
  Being poor is not talking to that girl because she’ll probably just laugh at your clothes.
  
  Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.

  
  
  I don't care if people hear or know that I'm poor. If they stop being my friends or just make me feel bad about it, then they weren't worth it to begin with.
  
  

  Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.
  
  Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise.
  
  Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.
  
  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 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 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.

  
  
  Sounds familiar.
  
  

  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 getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.
  
  Being poor is knowing you’re being judged.
  
  Being poor is knowing you really shouldn’t spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.
  
  Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.

  
  
  More unrelated than related.
  
  

  Being poor is having to live with choices you didn’t know you made when you were 14 years old.
  
  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.

  
  
  These drove heartaches... so much. I don't have a child, but it's a similar feeling if it's your younger sibling.
• Serathx wrote on 2010-09-21 17:52

  Quote from EndlessDreams;162005:

  There is always someone poorer than you if you can read this thread.

  
  
  This.
• Chillax wrote on 2010-09-21 18:38

  Quote from Sin;162026:

  I understand this, but I was simply replying to the "$800 car" thing, I wasn't getting into details with it.

  
  
  But you do need to take the details into account. Most of these people have to take their kid/s to school, go to work, and buy whatever necessities for life, all with same car. They are hoping that the car will last them for a long time, which I think the majority of $800 cars can't handle.
• Tatsu wrote on 2010-09-22 05:15

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

  
  
  I can understand this if your kids are 2 years or younger. But I can't understand this when they're older than that.
• Phunkie wrote on 2010-09-22 12:15
  My Mom never trusted us with any babysitter.
  
  Lots of people in my neighborhood back then were bad people, so it was hard.
• IceBlade wrote on 2010-09-22 12:17
  There's allot of people that are allot less well off than what they describe there. Allot of people don't even have $800 for a car, hell some don't even have $1 a day for food.
  
  

  [Image: http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/8792/dscf0018n.jpg]

  
  
  Imagen having to in a shack like this, no running water or electricity, having to use an outside toilet.
  
  I don't know if any of you've seen a 10 or 12 year old begging for food. It's enough to break your heart :T_T: