Yes, friends, we do live in a class based society! We have the Super Rich, we have middle class, we have the working poor, we have the poor and we have the people who have nothing. Each of these divisions come with their own set of judgments. The rich are believed to be the hardest workers, the people who earn their money by putting in long hard days. Those who are middle class citizens(which by the way is a dwindling class, many moving down a notch into working poor) Have the comforts of life. Nice houses, in safe neighbourhoods. Extra money to put into nice cars, great vacations and other such toys that are nice but not necessary. The working poor is the class that is the largest. It consists of people who work hard but only just barely get by from check to check. They have nice homes and one car but very few luxuries. Moving down quite a bit from working poor, are those who are poor. This class usually consists of single parents, people who cannot work and live off the government, people who are on welfare and people working in the lowest paying jobs. Poor people live in run down cheap housing, cannot afford vacations, new clothes or even dental care, let alone have a consistent supply of food and money for basic transportation. On the very bottom rung are those who have nothing! Consisting of mostly street people and couch surfers. Homeless and hungry the poorest of the poor rely entirely on their ingenuity to get their hands on the most basic of needs. Food, fresh water for cleaning, even medical supplies like glasses and medications. This class of people could be compared to the "untouchables" of India. Many believe that they just don't care about themselves enough to get out of extreme poverty not realising that a lot of these homeless people have been beaten down and rejected by society for so much of their lives that they have been conditioned to believe that they are indeed not worthy.
I live in poverty. I live on disability and get little to no extra money to have extra pleasures in my life. I have only two ways that I treat myself. 1. TV/ Internet. 2. cigarettes (of which I budget to have only 2 per day, if I go over, well then that's it they are gone). I have had the privilege to be able to send my daughter to a private school on a significantly reduced tuition(500$ reduction). And every left over penny goes to food. My money is quickly eaten up with bills.
Most times, however, I am able to be surprisingly grateful for how I live. With more money comes more spending on things i truly don't need. I have a home to live in, food to fill my family, and water, clean water, that comes directly out of my tap. I do not live in fear for my life, I have access to medical care and warm clothes in the winter. I have knowledge because I was aloud to go to school and learn to read. I have freedom of speech and freedom of religion and freedom to peaceful protest without risk of persecution, jail or even death. I have never lived through the ravages of war and I suspect that neither will my daughter. I am a Canadian citizen, one of the most affluent countries in the world. When I get sick, I get free medical care. Other social services are there for me as well like the protection of the police, attendance of paramedics if an emergency occurs, fire fighters, many who are volunteers, who rescue people in the scariest of situations like fires and car accidents.
In the end I need for nothing. Sure I have wants and desires for stuff, But I don't need anything.
However; just because I don't need anything does not mean that living as a poor person doesn't suck! Some days I hate it so much that I wont go out cause i don't have an extra 2bucks for a simple coffee. Often I go hungry to ensure that my daughter can eat more when she is growing. On the very very rare occasion that I can buy myself a new clothing item, that item must still be on sale. I get all other clothes as hand me downs from friends or thrift stores. I cannot get my hair cut regularly so I hide it under a hat. All these little things really do add up and some days it just breaks me, it reminds me that I am stuck in a class that barely lets me get my feet off the ground much less have the ability thrive.
I may have no needs but like everyone i sometimes have wants. I want to go to diner at a nice restaurant, I want chocolate every day, I want to be able to send my daughter to music/dance/sports lessons, heck, I want lessons in stuff I enjoy. I want stuff that I see in the flyer's I get from various stores. I want high technology devices and I want to go on vacation to somewhere hot, or someplace interesting like Cambodia or Nepal.
At the end of the month I have about 40 dollars to spare and that usually ends up in my kids hands.
So, How do I reconcile these feelings of loss due to mental illness. Well some days I don't. some days I pity myself and tell myself that I suck cause I have no money for milk for my tea for another week. or I was stupid to buy that "thing" when I could have used it for something "important" Other days I feel good because having no money has driven me to go to places that cost nothing. The library, hiking trails, visit friends, look for joy in the most unusual of places like watching the clouds, listening to a thunder storm, watch the snow fall, have a chat with my daughter, read books, listen to music, write take photos an draw....
balancing want vs needs can be a challenge for many people, even for the super rich. Life is about how you look at it, Life is about evaluating what make you happy. Life is also about sadness and fear, and how we cope. Sure we have a class system here in Canada. fortunately though we are all human and we all share that one truth with all 7 billion other people on earth.
1 comment:
Very true. So much is a matter of perspective. I have known people who felt poor because they couldn't afford that extra car, and people who've felt rich because they have a home, two feet and a heartbeat. It's difficult, however, because we base our perceptions on what's around us. We have God-given ability for observation, imagination and overall creativity. We don't live like a wolf, moose or rabbit - only worrying about survival, because we strive for more and are created complex. It's what drives us to innovation, knowledge-seeking, and creates our personalities. So - we see what's around us and we want it. We live in a society that allows access to all these novelties. We feel deprived if we can't have them too, where if we lived in a village in africa without even running water, we'd feel rich to have tap water. I love your mashup of ideas, it's a good topic. :)
And hey - if you can't afford that coffee, feel free to come over for one.
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