Honestly, I try my very hardest not to talk politics on Facebook or really anywhere else for that matter anymore because people get so up in arms about it. But since this is my blog and you have the option about whether to read it or not...Here's my take because it has really been on my heart lately.
I really feel like people spout off such strong feelings without really knowing why they feel the way they do. I really truly believe that most people (especially around my age) have no idea how lucky they really have it.
The general vibe I get from the American public seems to be this "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" type of mentality. But here's the thing. Picture this : You have a human tower of 500 people. You tell everyone that the goal is to get to the top. It's going to be a lot easier for the top ten (or 50 or 100) people to climb up the other people to the top than it is for the bottom 100 right? As you get closer to the bottom, those people have to get beyond the weight of all of the other people to climb up.
That's how life is y'all. I am well aware that I am 500 steps ahead simply based on where I grew up, the family I was born in to and the work they put in for me. But what about those other people? It seems to me that people make blanket assumptions about the poor based on a very small percentage. The face of the nation's homeless or those living under the poverty line is not those people you see on the street corner begging for money to go buy beer. What about those people who had to drop out of high school because their younger siblings needed more food? Those are the people working three minimum wage jobs and still living below the poverty line. Please be my guest and tell them to work harder. Tell them that they don't deserve health care.
For every No answer, picture yourself ten people higher in the tower.
1. Did you grow up in the ghetto?
2. Did you grow up in a single parent household?
3. Did you grow up worrying about how you were going to eat each week?
4. Did you grow up in an abusive household?
5. Did you grow up with people telling you that college was never going to be an option for you? Let alone, expected from you?
6. Did you take out your own loans to pay for college?
7. Did you grow up in household that made less than $40,000 a year?
8. Did you grow up with the knowledge that every female in your family works the streets and that's what is expected of you? (This actually happens!!)
9. Did you grow up in a household where there was the presence of drugs?
10. Did you grow up with an alcoholic family member?
11. Did your family immigrate from a different country?
I could go on and on with that list but I think you get the point. Every little tiny thing affects your placement on that human tower. It's the people who I consider to be closer to the top of the tower who are always telling people (in general) that all they need to do is work harder. Get another job! Go to college! Work longer hours! Remember, other people's hills are steeper than yours. Keep that in your heart.
If you have ten dollars in your pocket, it's ten more dollars than someone you pass on the street has. I don't really care how hard your worked (or didn't work) to get it.
And now you say.. Wait, how is this related to politics? Of course I care about poor people! Do you care about poor people once a year when your church goes on a mission trip or do you care about the poor people in your neighborhood? Do you care about that hospital in Africa or do you care when clinics get shut down who provide desperately needed preventive health services because 1% of what they do is abortions? You say that abortion is wrong, but do you care enough to pay more taxes to help raise that child? To help provide medical services for that family? To help that child be ten people up in the human tower?
The "American dream" can be yours. Just work harder.
No comments:
Post a Comment