I am poor people

[Kayleigh]

Nice story, Jo.

We grew up middle-class and though we were raised to be smart with money, we never felt like we went without anything. We also weren’t raised to think we needed money to be happy.

I do without some things now so I have a cushion of savings. I could care less about having a flat screen TV or 30 pair of shoes. Give me $500 and it goes into savings or my retirement funds, not a handbag.

Consumerism is not a religion, though it’s become one in America.

Many Americans are a couple paychecks (or a divorce or death or illness or job loss) away from being homeless….an uncomfortable fact that most of us don’t want to face. It’s easier to believe we’re somehow different….

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[charlabob]

Kayleigh, I’m not sure consumerism hasn’t become a religion — or at least a sacrament.

After 9/11, Bush, essentially rallied the nation to go shopping. We stood in line to give blood and were heartbroken when it wasn’t needed. Many of us who hate war would have supported any effort to find and neutralize those responsible And our leadership advised, “Go shopping.” Only thing missing was, “Don’t worry your pretty little head…the grownups will figure it out.” Could it be that was because they didn’t want us to notice what they were really planning?

Now, the economy is in the tank and what are we supposed to do? Go Shopping! Why is the economy in the tank? Because consumers, in a minor miracle, stopped spending when it was obvious we were in trouble. That’s right–it’s our fault. Forget the corporatists. Forget downright fraud. Forget a multitrillion dollar war that doesn’t even show up in the accounting records. It’s us–we stopped charging. Or we’re using our plastic to buy groceries and diapers and pay the electric bill.

If the cure for this economic debacle is the same as the cause, we are so screwed.

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[beachdrivegirl]

Your story is amazing JoB! I think more people need to hear from people out there to get them to wake up and take a look at the real world and face realty.

and…Charlabob you can blame me for the economy. in 2001 I was in college and busy trying to keep up with those i couldn’t…Needless to say by the time I graduated in 2004 I had more than 11,000 of credit card debt. I still I am in awe that credit card companies actually found it a good idea to give that much credit to an 18 year old with a part time job at best. Anyhow I lived and I learned and now am credit card and credit card debt free…

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[JoB]

kayleigh.. wish it was a story.. it really is my life.

we too have made sure we have rainy day funds.. but i know how little they are when a true rainy day hits…

in the meantime, i try to help when i can…

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[Kayleigh]

Jo, I meant “thanks for telling your story”….not to imply that it wasn’t real. Sorry—I have been the queen of congestion and so not exactly at my best.

I can breathe a little better today,so it’s back to work for me.

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[WSMom]

JoB:

The story of your beginnings is a mirror image of my mom and grandma’s life. Reading your post was emotional for me. I want to thank you for sharing so much of yourself with us.

My grandma was born in East Texas near the Oklahoma border. Her father was a sharecropper and a mean spirited man. He chose pride over feeding his family and my grandma knew hunger (and she held bitterness in her heart over this until the day she died). She had to leave school at 8th grade because shoes were required and she didn’t have a pair. She married young and moved West with my grandpa, he worked for the railroad. He contracted TB working in the Colorado coal mines and was very sick for most of his adult life. They had six children, my mom being the oldest girl. My mom ended up stuck with much of the house cleaning and cooking duties. Her childhood was very short. Grandma worked washing dishes at the VA hospital until she retired at 62. Grandma worked very hard to keep food on the table (she always had a big vegetable garden). Mom says that a pot of beans were always on the stove and that they ate very well growing up. Grandpa was rarely home, and it sounds like when he was around he was mean spirited and miserable. He died right before my mom and dad married, when mom was 21. Although my mom would never say this, it sounds like life was easier for everyone once he was gone (I know that sounds awful). My sisters and I have wonderful memories of spending the night with my grandma when we were little girls. She was a good grandma, but very quirky. She HATED men (can you blame her), and we found her anti-men rheteric pretty funny when we were little. Grandma diligently saved for her retirement, buying war bonds and savings bonds. She died at 90 in her barcalounger chair with her dogs in her lap in the home she had paid off 30 years before. She had just finished watching the 7:00 am news on TV. She absoluted despised G.W. Bush with a passion and it was fun to hear her take on current issues. She was a character and I think, all in all, a great success. Grandma and my mom had a complicated relationship, and when I was in my 30’s and beginning to have children, I felt frustrated and angry about how I perceived my grandma having treated my mom terribly. Now that my own daughter is nearly grown I’m realizing that all mother/daughter relationships are very complicated. I wish I’d figured that out sooner.

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[JoB]

mom and i didn’t exactly get along… she was defensive about her education and when i brought any idea home that wasn’t what she wanted to believe, she was abusive. “couldn’t let my head get so big that i forgot who i was” … again what she had learned from her own family… a family sadly full of pentecostal ministers…

I think it is always difficult for one generation to understand another.. especially if the previous had to fight a lot harder than they should have to survive.

We want so much for our children but often forget they need to learn their lessons.. not ours.

I had a daughter who wouldn’t speak to me for over two years… so understand the conflict well. I am pleased to tell you that she now considers me one of her best friends.

I’m not.. i’m her mom and biggest cheerleader… but we have a great relationship now.

this too will pass… or the current way of saying it… everything changes… got me through many a sad night… and turned out to be truer than i ever hoped.

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