(Lack of) Food for Thought

"Propaganda, stereotypes, and myth govern our thinking about poverty and poor relief much more than the facts do. By current, official measures, for example, more than one-third of poor Americans are children under eighteen years old, more than 10 percent are over age sixty-five, and nearly 40 percent of the adult poor are disabled-- that is, most poor people are 'deserving' or 'involuntarily' poor due to old age, youth, or infirmity."

A lot of us hold the view that poor people are there because they did something wrong. Because we are capable it's hard to find others as not. This is where we first gained our "common" view of those who live in poverty.

"According to the United Nations, slum dwellers were 30 percent of the world's urban population in 2005. By a slum we tend to mean deeply poor and often squalid cityscapes, and while we may overestimate how many poor Americans live in the city, in 2000 there were nonetheless 2,510 neighborhoods in the United States in which 40 percent or more of the populations was poor; 8 million lived in modern ghettoes. Since the 1970s, the number of Americans in areas of concentrated urban poverty had doubled."

What is the true definition of "poor"? How does this compare to the rest of the world and is the American citizen's definition of poor the same as those worldwide?

"'What is to be said of the character of people who, having the power to end all this, permit it to continue?'"

I challenge you to answer that question for yourself. What, if anything, are you doing to help?

"'Everybody knows that money, fame, and success don't necessarily bring happiness. But the other side of that equation is also true: poverty, obscurity, and failure don't necessarily bring unhappiness.'"

I will no where, no how compare myself to those in poverty, but from recent endeavors and finding myself jobless, I've learned more about what is really important to me. I can have fun and find joy without much discretionary income.

"'A very dear friend of mine and I were talking about work and she remarked to me that her husband was angry when she got home at 12 midnight the day before from work. I asked why she worked so late and she to me, "'Janie, don't you know that just before the first of the month we work late upping the prices. . . . this is the time business is good, when the welfare checks come out and food stamps are most used.'"'"

This quote was from 1967. I wonder if the same still applies today? I want to do a study of the cost of the "basic necessities" over a few months time. Maybe I will write one and conduct the research myself. I foresee a lot of challenges such as defining "basic necessities," determining which grocery stores to evaluate, and so forth. I am open to suggestions.


quotes from A People's History of Poverty in America by Stephen Pimpare.