Poverty Is the New Black
ATTENTION HIPSTERS! Time for a Cosmo-style quiz. (If Cosmo isn't awesome enough for you, pretend it's in Paste or something.) Give yourself 2 points for each of the following items that you own:
1. iPod
2. Running Shoes
3. Health Insurance
4. Cell Phone (add 2 points if you can access the Internet ... if it's an iPhone just go ahead and skip to the end)
5. Your Own Apartment or House (even if you rent and don't own it)
6. Netflix
7. Computer (2 extra points if it's an Apple!)
8. Name Brand Flip Flops (Rainbow, Reef, Chaco, Teva)
9. Vegetarian or Organic Food
10. Motorized Transportation (Car, Scooter, etc)
Okay, time to tally up your points. Get some paper and a pencil, or, for those of you who own numbers 4 or 7, go ahead and pull up your calculator function. If you've created a drumroll in GarageBand, now's the time to play it.
If you have 2 or more points, congratulations! You are not poor!
I'm tired of excessive whining from "starving artists" and "starving students." If you have a meal plan at Samford, you don't need to be complaining about food (actually, if you go to Samford ... or have gone to Samford, you probably don't need to be claiming to be poor). I'm not trying to say "be glad you don't sleep on sticks in a hut" (even though we probably should all be glad we don't sleep on sticks in a hut), but we could all stand to open our eyes and realize that, even if we don't have trust funds and go to Pilates, we still own quite a lot. And that's compared with people down the street, not even taking poorer countries -- or even poorer counties -- into consideration.
Am I guilty? Of course. I have everything on the list. (Full disclosure: I even went to Samford. *gasp!*) Obviously, I feel poor when I compare myself to people who drive Hummers (or any car, really) or who can afford cable. But I'm really lucky, and I've been blessed with enough money. I just haven't been responsible in handling it.
Sure, it's difficult to admit that I don't have enough money to pay my expenses and my debts. Yes, it's hard to cut back spending and face selling things that I really want to keep. I'm not pretending that it's easy, but it certainly isn't poverty.
Living simply (or trying to) is different than being poor. My paycheck is low because the freedom to explore creative outlets is important to me, not because I can't get a higher paying job. My bills are high because I bought t-shirts, not food for my family. I don't have a car, but it's not because no one will give me a loan to buy one.
This project is about getting out of debt, but I also think it's about redefining wealth as something that involves contentment and compassion, not materialism and self-pity.
SHOUT OUTS
Anna ... for amazing apple pie
Jimmy ... for leftover Chinese food (is it still good if I carried it around the mall for two hours?)
1. iPod
2. Running Shoes
3. Health Insurance
4. Cell Phone (add 2 points if you can access the Internet ... if it's an iPhone just go ahead and skip to the end)
5. Your Own Apartment or House (even if you rent and don't own it)
6. Netflix
7. Computer (2 extra points if it's an Apple!)
8. Name Brand Flip Flops (Rainbow, Reef, Chaco, Teva)
9. Vegetarian or Organic Food
10. Motorized Transportation (Car, Scooter, etc)
Okay, time to tally up your points. Get some paper and a pencil, or, for those of you who own numbers 4 or 7, go ahead and pull up your calculator function. If you've created a drumroll in GarageBand, now's the time to play it.
If you have 2 or more points, congratulations! You are not poor!
I'm tired of excessive whining from "starving artists" and "starving students." If you have a meal plan at Samford, you don't need to be complaining about food (actually, if you go to Samford ... or have gone to Samford, you probably don't need to be claiming to be poor). I'm not trying to say "be glad you don't sleep on sticks in a hut" (even though we probably should all be glad we don't sleep on sticks in a hut), but we could all stand to open our eyes and realize that, even if we don't have trust funds and go to Pilates, we still own quite a lot. And that's compared with people down the street, not even taking poorer countries -- or even poorer counties -- into consideration.
Am I guilty? Of course. I have everything on the list. (Full disclosure: I even went to Samford. *gasp!*) Obviously, I feel poor when I compare myself to people who drive Hummers (or any car, really) or who can afford cable. But I'm really lucky, and I've been blessed with enough money. I just haven't been responsible in handling it.
Sure, it's difficult to admit that I don't have enough money to pay my expenses and my debts. Yes, it's hard to cut back spending and face selling things that I really want to keep. I'm not pretending that it's easy, but it certainly isn't poverty.
Living simply (or trying to) is different than being poor. My paycheck is low because the freedom to explore creative outlets is important to me, not because I can't get a higher paying job. My bills are high because I bought t-shirts, not food for my family. I don't have a car, but it's not because no one will give me a loan to buy one.
This project is about getting out of debt, but I also think it's about redefining wealth as something that involves contentment and compassion, not materialism and self-pity.
SHOUT OUTS
Anna ... for amazing apple pie
Jimmy ... for leftover Chinese food (is it still good if I carried it around the mall for two hours?)
2 Comments:
Yes! That IS what this is about.
muchos de puntos!
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