until i met a man who had no feet January 23, 2008
Posted by deepali in budget, poverty.trackback
Two posts I’ve read recently have had me mulling some thoughts over in my head. The first talked about not being ashamed about having to save for a dental appointment. The second was about not being ashamed about lacking money for new clothes (her current wardrobe is adequate). At the same time, I just finished reading 3 Cups of Tea.
After all this, I realized one thing – I have no shame. Why? Because for however “bad” I think it is, someone else will always have it worse. So I have no problems telling my friends that I can’t afford a night at the theater, or that I’d rather do dinner at home, or that I want to carpool somewhere. Occasionally, I might even be a little bit proud of how cheap I can get (but only very occasionally).
Even when we’re drowning in debt and our economy is in a tailspin, we’re still better off than most people in the world. In many other countries, inflation and a credit crunch means more than foreclosure – it can be life or death. Debt and bankruptcy can mean a prison term (and not in one of our swanky-type prisons either). A recession can lead to famine.
We don’t have to worry about that. Our infrastructure is safe. The worst we experience is lower yields on our retirement accounts (or even drop), and some tightening of our belts. But we will still have clean water, adequate food, and a roof over our heads. Our concerns will revolve around buying cheaper shoes, not around how we are going to feed our kids. We’ll grumble about higher gas prices, but at least we aren’t driving our cars through minefields. Our heating bills will go up, but not from having to burn yak dung.
My mom grew up in a house that had no running hot water. She had to heat water in large pots on a fire outside, and then carry the bucket inside for a “bucket bath”. The toilet was outside, so any late night pit stops required slippers and a flashlight. Laundry (and dishes) were cleaned from a water tank in the backyard, by hand. At night in the summer, when it would be stifling hot, she slept on the roof.
So, worrying about paying for dental work and clothes seems doesn’t seem shameful to me at all. At least we have access to dentists and clothing stores.
Amen. One reason why I rarely feel like my life is bad, even with the debt and pinny-pinching, is that I look at how rich I really am and try to appreciate that.
We are not what we have, but who we are…
@ Mrs Micah – It’s not penny-pinching, it’s gratitude.
@ RacerX – I agree.
[...] reflected on meeting the man who has no feet. In the grander scheme of things, my 5 work shirts and 2 work pants are not just adequate, [...]
It’s great to be grateful for what we have and I agree that there is no shame in not being able to afford something, or in choosing not to buy something.
However, there certainly are many in the U.S. who do worry about and face issues you mention, such as not being able to feed their children, not being able to afford a roof over their head, etc. There are many in the U.S. whose greatest worry isn’t a smaller retirement account yield, but where they will sleep or how they will eat that night.
Just because so many in the U.S. have so much beyond what is truly needed in no way indicates that there aren’t many who live in serious and genuine poverty in this country. Not everyone in this country lives the way you’ve described in this post.
What you mention is a description of a group who as you mentioned, don’t have many financial worries beyond the return on their investments and how much can be spent on another pair of shoes. But many Americans do have to worry about roofs over our head and getting food on the table.
Many do face unsanitary and unhealthy conditions, lack of food, lack of nutrients, lack of healthcare. Dentists are a luxury for many. Americans may not be dodging bombs in their neighborhoods, but instead bullets and criminals.
The “we” in this post describes only a segment of the population. Certainly, “we” as used in this post does not refer to all or perhaps even most Americans. And what’s possibly most distressing of all is that many not included in that “we,” many who face very grown up worries of securing housing, food, healthcare, and employment, are children. Many of whom have no roof over their heads and who are faced with negotiating the difficult task of growing up in the midst of the very difficult struggles of experiencing and battling homelessness and debilitating poverty and its consequences.
Realizing how good we have it is great, but in my opinion neither should we forgot how many in our own nation struggle for just the basics every single day, and that not everyone in the U.S. lives the comfortable lifestyle of the more well off classes. Poverty, homelessness, and lack of basics is not just a foreign problem.
@ M – Thanks for the reminder. My post was definitely directed towards a specific audience. There are of course many people in the US who live in deplorable conditions (one my heros, Jack Geiger, was instrumental in bringing this issue to light). Certainly we should not forget about them as well.
However, I would like to point out that those in the worst conditions in this country are relatively few. Whereas, if you look at subsaharan Africa, the majority of the population lives this way. Dentists are a luxury for some in the US, but dentists are non-existent in many places in the world.
The US has come an extremely long way in reducing suffering in this country, though of course, it is still not enough.
There will be a future post about our failures in reducing poverty domestically, and what we still need to do to address it.
[...] Heidi at Banker Girl makes a distinction between broke and poor. It’s easy, when we’re saddled by debt and yet another credit card bill, to think of ourselves as downtrodden. But at least we have a means to access the basics in life. [...]