I completely agree with this comment Jackelope. And I have a lot of respect fro what EVEN SVEN said.
Being poor definitely makes you appreciate things more.
Most poster here are saying that being poor is horrible and that it’s only good when the situation improves but how many you now take things for granted again? I know I do.
2 years ago, my ex and I lost our job and house on the same day and were homeless and unemployed. After a week on the streets we got a place in a charity run youth hostel where Social Security paid most of the rent and we had our unemployment benefit of £40 per fortnight - £20 of which had to pay the hostel.
We used to get cereal for breakfast and an evening meal. I remember having to save up to share a half portion of chips that cost 45pence! it would be a treat for us to get a fresh loaf of bread and a tub of butter for lunch.
I think it was a very good experience for me - not enjoyable the whole time but even when in that position I was able to see what really mattered in life. When we got ourselves new jobs we treated ourselves to tak-out for dinner the first night and actually withdrew almost all our money so we could throw it up in the air!!
I know that since then I am a better person as I appreciate simple things more but I also know that I still take a lot of things for granted again just because they are readily available. I personally think it would do society a lot of good for everyone to experience poverty for a while.
Hope this post isn’t too long. It’s just a topic that’s close to my heart.
I forgot my one caveat- being poor with kids unabashadly sucks. It’s one thing for me to lull around in my impoverished neo-bohemian lifestyle brandishing all these romantisized ideas about being a starving artist and all that (although trust me, I don’t have a rich anything to fall back on), but if I had another human being who deserves a lunch bigger than coffee, a house that stays the same every month and a life richer than sneaking into art museum back doors, I’d be saying something totally different and seeking to fulfill that responsibility a lot faster.
Been poor and lost everything. There is nothing romantic or stimulating about it whatsoever. It is eating badly, working (in my case) multiple low-paying jobs, driving a wreck of a car that further drains one’s finances by needing repairs, wearing clothes and shoes well past the point where they should be replaced, being cold through the winter so you don’t run the gas bill up to the point where you can’t pay it, never being able to say “yes” to invitations to join friends for movies/clubbing/eating out/etc. It means things like when you witness a deer getting hit by a car, you ask the guy who hit it if you can have it and you think the salvaged meat is like manna from heaven. Passionate my eye. it makes you weary, depressed, and sometimes even hopeless. I’m not poor anymore and I wish I had never had the experience.
being cold through the winter so you don’t run the gas bill up to the point where you can’t pay it
I hear you.
We got destroyed on our gas bill last year (I love how the rates double in October). This year we bought 4 electric oil heaters from Lowe’s and put plastic over the windows. We run the gas heaters only when we absolutely have to, like in the morning to take the chill out of the air.
If you’re reading this and you have central heat and air, go thank whatever god you believe in. You have no idea how blessed you are.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear. I wasn’t sure if the OP was implying that he could experience the passion and artistic vision of poverty by simply buying a lot of expensive stuff he can’t afford. In my opinion, being well-off and living beyond your means is not the same thing as poverty, so if he really wants to see what poverty is like, he should reduce his income and try to live on it, not just go out and buy a bunch of toys.
I think that quote from Wright is something he made up as an excuse for the problems he had. That is, he didn’t go into debt on purpose because he liked being poor, he just told people that.
Also, some people love to feel like a victim. They get off on the feeling that the world has kicked them in the ass, so now won’t you please feel sorry for me. So, for these folks, this is the source for their poverty thrill.
Ahh but it takes more than belly-fire to be successful.
Myself and a couple of my friends and people I know have been unemployed or underemployed for long periods of time over the past several years. We aren’t “poor” though because we are highly skilled business professionals and expect to eventually get jobs doing SOMTHING that pays a decent wage. We can collect $405 a week NY State unemployment just for doing nothing. Worst case scenario, move back in with mom and dad in the suburbs.
I don’t consider that poor. Real poor people worry about living on the street if they can’t pay the rent. They eat dog food or bologny on hand because they can’t afford to buy anything better. They don’t put $150 meals with their girlfriend on their credit cards.
Doesn’t sound like a life I’d be too pationate about.
I guess some people get off on stress. Thrill seekers are the same way, some people only feel alive when something valuable is on the line. When you reach middle class and nothing of value is on the line (financially at least) then the thrill is gone. IMO at least.
Of course being poor against your will (as most repliers seem to be or to have experienced at one point or another) is a world apart from voluntary poverty the same way voluntarily jumping out of a plane is different from being pushed out.
Did you mean more COMpassionate? But then, even in that case, I don’t think every person who struggled through poverty is going to come out of it wanting to help. As with everything in life, different people will deal with emotions and situations according to their own personal set of values, experiences and abilities to cope.
Some people will be so scarred and bitter (depending upon how horrible their experience was) that they might, at least for a time, until they feel safe, be even MORE miserly and uncaring for others.
IME? It did make me feel MORE compassionate. I vowed that, if I EVER managed to claw out from under my poverty stricken situation (about 13 years ago), that I’d try to help people who were in similar situations to mine.
And I did keep that promise. And it was JUST as rewarding to me, as it was to the people I’d helped, so it wasn’t as if I was all goody goody either, I still got a great feeling out of it.
And some small vindication for the poor poverty stricken girl I was all those years ago.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by msmith537 * Originally posted by SnoopyFan
But on the flip side, being in debt/want does give you a fire in your belly to succeed, makes you more focussed to succeed at any costs.
**
it’s procrastination. when you’re rich you might be too comfy to do what’s good for you. poorer countries do not have as much a problem with obesity and kids suing macdonalds…
Yes, but where does the drive come from? Unless you want to be stuck in the rut of poverty, you will not do anything about it, but if you want to rise above it, you will. And thats where the belly-fire part comes. Debt/want does make a person more focussed, and that is an essential if one wants to succeed.
Just two years ago, me and my friend were laid off. We were totally penniless and couldnt even afford a glass of pepsi (in India, we get Pepsi poured in 150 ml glasses, by the road side. Don’t know about other places). Today both of us are employed but I earn more than him. but today, he has more goals than me, and he is making attempts to achieve those. Me? I’m just drinking Pepsi.
And msmith537, when you were unemployed, you had the unemployment benefits. But when me and my friends were unemployed, we only had the money we had saved up, and that was drying up fast.
I agree with the view that poverty does make you more appretiative about the value of money.
I’ve been seriously broke rather than poor.
Broke is temporarily without funds; poor is without hope.
It sucked at the time but it sure sharpened my wits, honed my priorities and–yeah–lent zest and gratitude.
Wealth doesn’t just mean stuff and ease. Money is a tool, nothing more. It truly reflects nothing on the owner, good or bad. It doesn’t bestow dignity or sense or worth.
That said, doing without it can be a helluva worthwhile lesson. It puts money squarely into perspective.
I love not having to work to exhaustion to make ends meet. Just coping day-to-day without can incredibly gruelling. “Simple” things like clean clothes, nutritious food, etc. can loom large when it takes all waking hours to supply them–forget dreams, etc.
Am I grateful for the experience? You bet. Like Aries, it made me compassionate and aware of other peoples’ struggles. And pragmatically demanding too: I’ll give others the tools they need but I won’t support them.
I love my extras, but they came well after the basics. Knowing the difference is key, IMO.
There were times during my college years where I was dead broke. There were a days where I couldn’t afford food. All of my clothes had holes in them. It totally sucked. There was nothing good about it. At all. Of course, I knew that when I graduated I would go into job that paid well. It was just a matter of time. One thing for sure, poor and hungry did not work for me and certainly didn’t make me more passionate about anything.
I got out of school thirteen years ago and through hard work and good decisions, I am financially very comfortable now. I don’t have expensive tastes which means that I can buy whatever I want whenever I want it. This is way better and I don’t miss the old days a bit.
If you’re “comfortable,” but want to experience “living on the edge” to make you more passionate, I’ve got two words for you: identity politcs.
You don’t need to create a personal struggle to build passion. Life gives you enough struggles-- whether you’re rich, poor or in between-- you just have to look for them, and go.
IMHO, people who purposely put themselves at a disadvantage, are totally misguided and destined to fail.
I grew up poor. Our family’s standard of living was low. I went to college, got a good job, etc. and now my standard of living is quite comfortable.
I’m glad I grew up poor, as it gives me an appreciation for what I currently have.
Many people have the opposite experience; they grow up in a comfortable environment and end up having a lower standard of living when they get out on their own. I often wonder if these people would be better of (and have better attitudes) if they had been raised in a “poor” environment.
Even our poor would be obese msmith537, but doing so, they will not get any alms or pity. Hence the skin and bones that you see on tv. Its more of a put on. There have been stories about these so called “poor” people having bank accounts in hundred thousands
Until I got married, I was about as far down on the economic ladder as it was possible to be. I have been on welfare. I never had a credit card, and I never owed anybody a dime. I was lonely and miserable and broke and had no prospects, and I coasted for a long time.
Then things changed dramatically for the better. I ended up moving 1500 miles to marry my lovely wife and become a real citizen. We have a house (rent) and all the stuff that goes in one, and now we are about $20,000 in debt. We have wonderful credit, never made a late payment or had a collection agency letter… just that the interest is getting out of hand. (We just transferred some of our debt onto a 0% interest card so we can take care of the principal instead of paying 24% interest.)
So, it’s out of one frying pan, and into another frying pan.
Did being poor make me any more passionate about life? No, it made me suicidally depressed and perpetually unhappy. It made me move 1500 miles away to somewhere that I could make a good life for myself and my wife. If I was still back there in my old life, I’d more than likely be in the same position I was before. Given the choice between being $20G in debt for having a decent life and going back to how I used to live, it’s the new life, hands down. You can eventually get out of debt, and we will.
Living out of doors in urban areas can make you more appreciative and more actively aware of your surroundings. However, debt’s unecessary for such an endeavor.
