Thank you for all the comments on my last post. I am not doing anything so special. I am just trying to understand life a bit better. What I have come to realize is that I truly did not understand poverty until recently. I mean, we hear about it constantly. Like many things, I think it becomes background noise and we tend to tune it out. I always assumed that if anyone wanted an education and worked hard enough, there are scholarships to be had. This is not the case. In some areas, like this small town we've adopted, there are none at all. How does this impact these areas? Well, if there is no chance of attending college, why would anyone work hard in high school. If no matter how hard you work and how good your grades are you still can not go to college, why put any effort into it at all? This explains the high dropout rate. And why knock yourself out to get a minimum wage job when welfare pays you almost the same amount of money. This explains the fight to get the minimum wage raised. If you could make significantly more money at a minimum wage job, you are likely to get off of welfare.
The people I've met in this town don't even think about their future. They literally just try to get through each day. They struggle to find food to feed their families. The Blog Tech took cases of soup along with baby food to the town the other day. We do this each week. Again, I didn't give it much thought, I just knew it was needed. He came back and told me that one of the young mother's thanked him profusely and told him that she got two cans of soup the week before and she and her kids ate it for three days. She has three kids. How in the world can four people live off of two cans of soup for three days? It's just not right. I guess when we see the 'cans for the needy' donation carts at the checkout, we shouldn't pass them by. I don't want to sound preachy, I am just passing on what I am learning. Especially at this time of year, I am really appreciating my life.
Someone told me this recently:
Poverty kills your long term vision, which is the biggest challenge when motivating young people and getting them on track.
So so true.
Comments
an amazing wake up call you have given us.
I know that what you are doing is changing the lives of many,
poor Teddy, better drop a cookie now and then,
It is amazing what You've done. In a country where You have to pay for higher educatio, scolarships are the only way for most people and I guess there aren't that many around to get. You have given hope to these people that there is a way out of their situation if they study hard and an incentive to do so!
I would do just the same as Teddy if I was close to Your stove while You're baking :-) :-) :-)
Have a great day!
Christer.
It takes effort and discipline to get out of poverty. And yes, pride. Welfare makes it easy to just slide by, which is why my parents would never take any kind of help. If everyone at McDonalds and such places makes $15 an hour, what will that do to the price of everything? What about the folks who went to college, got a degree and start off at 15 an hour, only to find out the guy at Sonic is making far more than him??
I'm not saying we shouldn't help, just offering a different viewpoint. I never went to college, but I worked hard, at several jobs, til I made my way up through the hospital I started at by scrubbing toilets and floors. But I didn't have kids to worry about getting babysitters for.
That is the number one issue right there. And that's a whole 'nuther post.
I think what you've done is fantastic! People need a little hope. Not everyone has drive, but those that want something better for themselves need a little hope that it could actually happen. You and the others who have helped, have given them that now. I wish I could hug you!
Also - I've been making bone-broth too - so much yum and it's been helping my tummy take a break from all the rich food I've eaten this month!