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?

Evanston: Crime and Compassion

As I was walking past Whole Foods today, I lied to the man who asked me for money. I told him I didn't have any cash. I had over 20 dollars in my wallet. I did not feel guilty.

Sitting in Pomegranate as I ate my steak in a sack, I read The Weekly whose cover article had, in pictorial form, the number of robberies and crimes since September. I said to myself, "who walks alone at 2 AM?" I stopped just short of "That's what they get."

Walking out of Pomegranate I went back the way I came and gave the man who asked me for money a dollar. He replied, "God Bless You."

The other man who asked me for money got nothing. I said, I'd given it all to the other man who's just asked. I lied again. I did not feel guilty. I felt saddened.

I write this to show that even the people who think themselves generous are not always so. And even the people who know first-hand how hard it is to glimpse "the good life" fall prey to selfishness and bad stewardship. I write this to show too that crime in Evanston, however "rare" still happens, but for reasons we do not think of often. Perhaps that person who robbed you did not need diapers for his one-year old, but something, anything to eat since he hadn't eaten in 3 days.

Sometimes we focus so much on out preconceived notions of who the victim is we forget that there might be more than one. We should remember that (most) people don't rob others for the hell of it. The rob others out of necessity. Sometimes those we whom we classify as criminals without thinking are those who need the most help. I often forget this.

So despite the warnings from NUPD, give to those who ask of you once in a while. They may indeed buy alcohol with it (and whose to say you weren't!) or cigarettes. Or they may use it to buy food for themselves or they're family. Or they may use it to rent a room for themselves so they won't have to sleep in the cold. Whatever they do with it, doesn't really matter. God honors your commitment to helping those less fortunate than yourself. Have and demonstrate compassion.

And who knows perhaps that dollar you gave might stop that person from robbing someone else to get the money they need.



* I believe this can go without saying but just in case: In NO WAY do I advocate for the undertaking of any criminal activity or violence. Or sheer stupidity for that matter: if it's 2 o'clock in the morning, take saferide, cough up the 5 bucks for a cab, or stay where you are!