The "Less-Fortunate" (On Being Poor)

A while ago I came across an article on cracked.com (hilarious humor website. if you like sarcasm, check it.) titled:

5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor

Despite me laughing out loud at the sarcastic humor in said article, ALL FIVE THINGS WERE TRUE. And it got me to thinking: we're always talking about how rich people should help those who are "less fortunate" by donating time to shelters and soup kitchens, items to food banks and churches, and money to charities and foundations.

But what about the people (and I count myself among them) who are too "rich" for food banks but live paycheck to paycheck? Who helps them?

This is what the cracked article was mainly about in many ways. The concept of "the poor" has long been conflated with the image of "the homeless". And while we should help those who are homeless, the majority of the poor are not. They eat (perhaps not 3 square meals a day) and wear clean clothes and work steady jobs. They are not slackers or beggars. They are not homeless and destitute. They are POOR. Sometimes because of bad decisions. Always because of circumstance. And often "poor" is not an adjective that describes a single family or a neighboorhood. It more often qualifies GENERATIONS. In this country, you can honestly (statistically) say that if you were born poor, there's a good chance that you will stay poor... and so will your children.

Now I'm not saying that upward mobility doesn't happen (I'm sure hoping that I will be proof of that one day soon--- and in some ways I already am), but I think it's about time that we stop what I like to call adjectivizing people (when those who are less fortunate become THE "less-fortunate" or like when those who come into the country illegally become "illegals") as a way to distance ourselves. We need to realize that WE are "the poor" and then do something about it.

We can't all be upper-middle class, rich or billionaires, but I believe it is possible for every single person, family, and neighborhood to live above the poverty line, which for 2011 was a $22,350 for a family of four.

Politicians? Let's start with that, k?