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?

READ IT.

So I've been getting The Huffington Post Daily Brief in my inbox since before I knew it was cool.
Some stuff I just skip over either because I don't have time to read it or already read a bunch of articles about the topic, but sometimes I break down read all of the emails that have collected in my inbox (yes, I do have a special Politics inbox-- I'm a nerd, what can I tell ya?) and really look at them for content if not a similar opinion.

Yesterday? (Or some other day this week!) I found an article which pretty much sums up the way I feel about money, opportunity and people when those three words are found in the same conversation.

Kelli Goff, whose op-ed pieces I find quite fascinating, wrote an article entitled,

"Gwyneth Paltrow is Right. We're All Jealous (of her and George W. Bush)."

which is pretty much fan-frickin'-tastic.

Her claim is this: We understand that some people are born into privilege and some aren't. We accept that. It's a fact of life. But what really get our goad is when a person born into privilege A) doesn't realize it and B) further ignores his privilege by defining his success as an achievement which came solely from his own hard work.

NOTE: It's important to define the two major words at work in this article.
Privilege: a right, immunity or benefit enjoyed by a person beyond the advantages of most.
Success: the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.

The reason for this note is that often people get the two confused in conversations like these, i.e. proponents of the "Don't hate; you're just jealous" mentality.

BACK TO IT.

Goff writes, it better than I do:

Well if your last name is Bush (or McCain or Kennedy for that matter) you don't need affirmative action programs, or Pell grants for college or an extension of unemployment benefits if you find yourself out of work, and your kids won't either. Why? Because you had the privilege of being born into privilege. And this is ultimately the issue. People should not be punished for being privileged. They can't help that anymore than the rest of us can help NOT being born into privilege. But it would be nice if they would extend the rest of us the courtesy of acknowledging their privilege, and not simply pretend that their success is built solely on a combination of hard work and chutzpah. But it seems like increasingly all we get to hear -- from members of Congress and now Ms. Paltrow -- is that if we're just a bit more disciplined and willing to work a little bit harder, we can achieve the same Dream as the privileged classes."


Now, isn't that just AWESOME? I love when people tell it like it is.


:) Love!

Some Jokes I Found Rather Funny

In no particular order of potential amusement:

Kathleen Madigan: Figure Skating

I always wanted to be a figure skater as a kid, too, that was like my fantasy dream. But whenever I watch it, I think I would have totally done it alone. I don't know how these people have enough control over the tempers to be working with a partner. Because if I worked with some guy for 15 years, and we got to the Olympics, and out of nowhere he just fell -- oh, I'd skate around just to chop off his fingers. I would, and I would not feel bad about that -- ever. 'Now when you're nubbing your cereal spoon in the morning, you can look at that box and remember why we're not on it.'

Mike Britt: Too Much of Our Business

We tell too much of our business. I don't understand war. Why we tell everything we're about to do? We're running around, trying to find out military intelligence on them. They don't need that -- all they do is watch the news, they see everything they need to see. They plan their strategy with the TV on and their maps out.

Rory Albanese: Least Respected Place

I'm from Long Island, which is the least respected place in the world. I travel all over the country. I could be in the middle of Omaha doing something and the guy comes up to me and says, 'Hey, where'd you grow up?' I'm like, 'Long Island.' And he's like, 'Loser.' Really? I grew up 22 miles from Manhattan; you lost your virginity to corn. I feel like I win that round. I'm like, 'I've seen the ocean. Game over.'

Whitney Cummings: Silent Treatment

Ladies, next time your man pisses you off, do not give him the silent treatment. Instead, go Google the most important game of the season, sit next to him during that game and just ask as many f**king questions as possible. 'I don't understand. Who's that guy in the striped shirt? Does he work at Foot Locker? I don't understand, why are they all wearing the same outfit? When are we going to have a baby?' Eventually he will shoot himself in the face, and you f**king win that argument.

Felipe Esparza: Dad's Furniture Fix

I love my dad. He used to walk around the whole neighborhood and collect old furniture and fix it, like MacGyver with duct tape. One time, he brought a television home. I said, 'Damn, that TV has 500 channels.' When I got older, it didn't have 500 channels -- it was a knob from the oven. My favorite channel was 300 degrees.

Demetri Martin: Pillow Fights

Man versus woman equals fun. Man versus man equals gay. Woman versus woman equals awesome. Man versus pillow equals crazy. Pillow versus pillow equals crazy awesome -- that's a real pillow fight right there. You see two pillows fighting, you know something's going down. They're designed for relaxation. If they're fighting, what hope do we have? One time I saw two geese fighting, and I was like, 'This is a pillow fight ahead of time.'

Dave Nystrom: Drunk in the Middle of the Day

Have you ever been drunk in the middle of the day? And I don't mean a couple of cocktails with lunch -- I mean like severely messed up. It's weird because you can't even properly relate to people anymore. I was like, 'What do you mean I can't get an Egg McMuffin? What -- because it's after 11? That's ridiculous.' He's like, 'No, sir, because this is a bank.'

Jeffrey Ross: Stay Free

My favorite band in high school was The Clash. Remember The Clash? They had this one song early on that my boys and I used to use as our little greeting to each other. We thought we were cool. It was called, 'Stay Free.' We'd be like, 'Hey man, stay free.' Then one day, out of nowhere, it became a feminine hygiene product. We couldn't use it anymore. Then we were like, 'Hey man -- you know.'

Julian McCullough: Brain Can't Dream

Did you know that if you go to bed wasted, your brain can't dream? It's like a medical thing. I have my own theory and that's that your brain is like, 'Dude, I'm not going to entertain you after what you just did to me for the last six hours. Oh, you want feel what it's like to fly? Go f**k yourself. I'll be up all night with your liver, figuring out how we're going to make it to 50.'

Funny BP Sketch - "Coffee Spill"

Thought this was just hilarious :)

Random Things

So maybe inundation is not the right word, lol.
Here's a couple of things that I wanted to share with you though.

First off, a really funny website I found called Overheard Everywhere. It's random parts of conversations overheard by people. Some of them are sketchy, some are just really random and hilarious. For example, here's one from a couple of days ago.

Wise eight-year-old boy to brother: Getting a girlfriend is the easy part. But you have to know how to keep them.
Attentive six-year-old: How do you get them to stay?
Wise eight-year-old: You have to find out what kind of food they like to eat. And you give them a plastic unicorn.

Nature Park
Tampa, Florida

I don't know why I was so amused by that. Here's one more.


When Aunt Jemima Eats Burritos, Everyone Knows It.

Churchgoer to another: Did you fart? Something smells like buttermilk.

Methodist Church
Knoxville,

Sometimes the funniest part is the titles they give for the overheard conversations. They match so well!


Ok, so next up is this website which is all about Health Care Reform (I also posted this on Facebook). Check it out. It gives real answers which include specific references to the Health Care Bill being discussed. It debunks a whole lot of ridiculous myths that people keep spouting like "death panels" and "Nazi policies." So give it a go and hopefully get some answers.


And lastly, in the same political vein, I suggest you all take the Political Spectrum Quiz. It's interesting to see the questions as well as the responses you can choose from. Also, it might call you to evaluate how you feel about certain issues. Just try it.


That's it for right now, I'll be back with more later :)