Comments on: Poverty

By: Joan

Joan — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 22:34:05 +0000

I guess if the writer doesn’t have any water she is supposed to sit around until she dies of dehydration? She got water from her parents because she did not have running water in her home… not because she was trying to relive her childhood. I think you miss the point… places like Appalachia and some counties in the West (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, etc…) are virtual economic wastelands. It’s not that people are poor because they are stupid or inferior… they are poor because there are no economic options. Obviously the writer is an intelligent person. She finished college and is now in graduate school… yet she is caught between a rock and a hard place. Does she remain in Appalachia with no hope of rising above poverty and remain true to her cultural roots and stay with the people she loves, or does she leave everything she is enter a world that will force her to abandon her dialect, her accent and many of her Appalachian customs just to rise above poverty? Anyone familiar with Appalachia will know that the culture is very anti-materialism (they tend to seek and find happiness by other-worldly and more metaphysical means, as well as in the happiness of being amongst family and friends who can be trusted and who are always close). To escape poverty would mean to become what her culture condemns: a woman concerned with material prosperity. What kind of choice is that? Why can’t a person live a simple life without starving? Why can’t a person choose to live outside of American materialism without having to beg for water? The Appalachian people are not looking for wealth (not in mainstream terms, anyway), so why do we tell them they either have to leave and become one of us, or die?

Perhaps the one who needs to examine himself/herself is you. All the writer is asking for is the basics: food, water, and a warm home. She is not asking for a McMansion in an upscale suburb. She is not aking for expensive jewlery or furniture. She is only asking for basic sustenance. So why are we denying her this?

By: S. Harrell

S. Harrell — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 14:36:22 +0000

I think you do have choices; they just may not be the ones that you want. We all have to decide in life what we're going to use our energies and time on. We can't do everything and, you're right, we can't do anything, so we have to decide what it is that we can do. If we have limits we don't like and can't remove, we have to decide what we can do within those limits.

Sometimes, we think that if we can't do the things we want or go to the places we desire, we should do nothing. But that's not true. Often God will allow doors to remain closed so we finally come to the ones He has allowed to stay open. I'm reminded of your parents, who you tell us, are great at what they do. Despite their apparent lack of choices, as you say, they still managed to find satisfaction in their careers and to excel at them. The great lesson God may be trying to teach us here through your parents is that you can still be satisfied, even happy, though you may not get your first choices in life.

Instead of trying to go and do what you can't by trying to fit in with "them," (i.e. new clothes, wealthy husband, better college, etc.) go and do what you can and try to be content.

But I must qualify something. Make sure that the limitations you perceive are real, often we skew reality. In some cases, you seem to be reliving your childhood, a poverty of the mind almost, for example, getting water from the neighbors as your parents did from relatives when you were a child. Maybe a little self-examination concerning this may help you. God bless.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:31:05 +0000

When you reach the bottom of the page and it says, “Page 1 of 4″, it means you should continue reading before posting an ignorant comment based on an imcomplete reading. Had you finished the article, you would have realized that the author (who is a SHE and NOT a “he”) did deliver pizza AFTER she returned to college and graduated. There were no jobs available and so she packed up and moved across country to attend graduate school. It seems the problem here is not that the author is refusing to take responsiblity for her life, it seems you don’t know how to read the ENTIRE article.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 19:41:15 +0000

there is no reference to "no jobs in the chosen field" in this article. And the writer was talking about his father delivering pizza.

The reason I wrote my reply is that this sounds like my childhood and my subsequent quest for a college education and a career. It took 5 years for me to realize that just working hard doesn't guarantee success. Once I realized that the way to truly get ahead is to go beyond the expected. I received a community college degree and worked in a few different fields before I started going beyond the expected. It bugs me when I hear people say that they struggle to be successful and say that they work hard. Some of these same people will be the first to say “it’s not my job” when asked to do something extra.

And the author did have a choice, he chose to drop out of school. That was his choice. Life is all about choices, and taking the responsibility to deal with the consequence of those choices.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 19:14:16 +0000

I think the point of this article is that there are no jobs in a chosen field available in this area… would the author be delivering pizzas if there were other possibilities? Especially after getting a college education. Wake up and smell the roses! A person can only work if work is available.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 18:12:21 +0000

It's not only working hard, its balls, cunning and focus.
You need to know how to position yourself to take advantage of opportunity. Everyone works hard.
If you were living at home you should have found a job, no matter what the salary, in your chosen field. It's no enough to do the required "Hard Work", you have to go above and beyond it have the "American Dream".

If all you focus on is " Work Hard” you will have the requisite "Hard Working Life" to follow.

By: shokal

shokal — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 08:31:23 +0000

Your story is breath-taking!
I feel for you.