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Poverty experiment is an eye-opener

Only in America can people pretend to be poor for a little while. Go to Africa, Indochina, Central America. Experimentation is a real EYE opener.

For years we've all heard the comment that most of us are only one or two paychecks away from homelessness and it looks like that is a correct statement. Poverty is a grind. Ask any enlisted man/woman's family.

The american people don't know what poor and even being in poverty is. Our version of poor is condisered wealthy in a real poverty stricken country. The american people will always have this poor class in its society and its always been looked down upon as a choice these people make. No one chooses to be poor and some are by conditions and circumstances of each individuals misfortunes. Does anyone remember the hobo's who would go from door to door begging to do work for a sandwhich? Children were taught to fear them. But most were just out of work people because of technology, machines replacing farm hands, and they lose their jobs. Salt Lake had many hobo camps along the railroad lines they used for transportation from city to city. People in these hobo camps often fought for food and any work. There is no real cure for being poor and all we can do is be tolerant and help them as individuals. That doesn't mean we have to bankrupt the country for financial aid either. Tolerence and caring by others is their best friend, they are good people in a bad situation.

I agree that Americans (most Americans) truly don't get it--about being poor. I've been to a third world country--and have seen what real poverty is.

BUT, as a child of poverty...as someone who grew up in a "HUD" neighborhood with Section 8 housing...being tolerant is NOT the only thing that Americans can do. And financial assistance does not mean that people are weak. One major illness of ONE family member can send a family over the edge. I've seen through a close family member's experiences that a lost job, lost insurance, and the prejudice that occurs from companies when they find out people have families, or a sick family member in this country does not represent "tolerance". And that the only thing that salvaged such horrible situations were government assistance programs that kept babies with food, children going to the doctors they desperately needed (in order to live), and a family together. The majority of UT does not get it....it's not a matter of "poor" people...it's a matter of recognizing that taking care of each other makes us all stronger! So pooh on your "tolerance" alone crap!

It is expensive being poor. Several bus transfers. Maybe two trips to the store if you are lucky to be able to afford that much food that week. Imagine trying to lug 5 pounds of potatoes, 5 cans of soup/ravioli, 3 cans of tuna, a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, a box of oatmeal, pb, 5 cans of veggies, a dozen eggs, butter and dishwashing detergent on the bus without breaking your back, messing up the bread and eggs? All with a small child?

Third world countries have it worse, but is it a competition? No.

You don't need to go to a third world country to know what it feels like to go hungry, to know what it feels like to wash your clothes in the bathtub, to know what it feels like to stand in bread lines or cheese lines. The person sitting next to you in church may not have eaten recently but was too afraid or ashamed to tell anyone.
That young couple at the convienence store may be living in their car.
In our busy lives, take a moment to really see the people around you in every day life. You just never know how one small, simple gesture, smile, kindness may be just what that person is praying for.
Kudos to these two persons who are trying for a moment to find out what it feels like to walk in someone else's shoes. God bless you!

People don't usually choose to be poor. I think compassion and seeing where help is needed makes us all better people. There is so much need all around and what a difference we can make by taking a conscious effort to see what needs to be done and doing it to make someones life a little easier. We really are all in this together.

You can't eat "compassion" and "tolerance," folks!

One of the things that made this country great after the Great Depression was the social safety net that helped people who were down on their luck get back on their feet.

Listen to what most of Utah's legislature says about government programs that help poor people and you'd think it was the work of Satan himself. Our tax dollars go to these programs--and that's a GOOD thing.

Vote those insensitive folks out and see how they like it back in the real world!

I don't have much experience helping the poor directly. What I have seen though, is people poor by choice. Meaning bad choices all the time.. I am not so sure there are many people poor by consiquence.

Some just do not know how to put things off or save. Most I know are idle with their free time. Many have had children without real good planning.

I know the one big disablier is to give away free money...

Many people find themselves in poverty because of one event - the family's only bread-winner is laid off, or more often, a catastrophic illness or other negative health event wipes out all financial resources. A lot of people who lose their homes do so because they had to take out second and third mortgages to pay medical bills.

Stereotyping the poor as idle and irresponsible just worsens the problem. It makes people who are hungry, who have to put their babies to bed in the back seat of their cars feel a deeper sense of sorrow and false shame. Let's start "directly helping" those poor people before judging them.

Since you have no experience surely there are people you have missed in your observation.

The teen mom who raises their child who ends up a mother in her teen years. Yeah the second teen made a bad choice starting family early but really hadn't had the skills to make better financial decisions from her family most likely. Once you are poor or on assistance it's difficult to get out of it and it becomes a generational thing.

Some people are doing fine financially cause they have had no bad luck or difficult event yet in their lives.

Some things are just too expensive to survive without multiple part time jobs and multiple earners in the home. One of those jobs gone and you are hurting for food.

Take the mortgage mess. Two incomes to qualify, one gets laid house and the house is in forclosure. What they should have done it based the payment on one income, used the other's for improvements and saving and paying down the mortgage early. One could support the house with greater ease if times got tough.

I grew up in what was considered the "poor" part of SLC back in the 50's/60's. It has actually only gotten worse since then. Not because it has become materially poorer. That would be hard to do. But mainly because has become much more crime ridden. Poverty of things, per se, is NOTHING compared to a poverty of principles and values.

I see children now who have MUCH more than I did as a child but whose family life and general social surroundings are so heavily laden with corrupt/superficial values and neglectful parenting, they struggle to have the childish joy that I remember being a regular part of the lives of all of us "poor" children 50 years ago.

Mother Teresa saw the worst kind of material poverty this world can produce. Yet, she could see that "There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation in this world than for bread."