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    Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

    This came to mind for me because of how we Americans define bad times. This is not to say that we don't have bad things happen here in America,we do. Here is what I mean by spoiled. Oh weep weep,I wont be able to buy that new Mercedes I want because I am almost down to my last Billion. Who is me,my favorite store is out of my special food that I just can't live without. I try and remember always there are people on this planet that count themselves lucky to have something to eat 1-2 times a week. If I am hungry,I need but take a stroll down to the corner 7-11 and buy a snack. I have had the experience of talking to someone in pain that I said remember even in your pain you are so much better off than that kid in that poor country that has REAL pain(and may die) and you can get something to ease your pain just by calling your local doctor,or even getting an over the counter pain reliever. The kid in question has none of those options unless he is lucky enough to have a Missionary Doctor close enough to get to him in perhaps 2 weeks.

    We are VERY blessed to have been born here in America,and remember that is by pure chance of our ancestors taking the chance to pack up and move 3-4 thousand miles to get here back in the covered wagon days.

    So,Americans quit feeling entitled,and begin to understand just how very lucky you are to have been born here,and in a time that may prove to be the era of miracles.

    I am proud to be an American,but will never forget that there are those that I am able to help and aid,there are those that need me to be a caring and concerned human being,because being human is much more important than being just an American.
    MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

    all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
    NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
    don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




    sigpic

    my new page here,let me know what you think.


    nothing but the shadow of what was

    witchvox
    http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

    #2
    Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

    anunitu, I know exactly what you mean.

    You're about my age. If your family was as poor when you were a kid as mine was, you know there wasn't a whole heck of a lot of help coming from the government, and, what little there was, people like my parents wouldn't take because it would mean they were "failures" (I'm not saying this is right - there are many forms of aid available now, and if people need it, they should take it so their kids won't have to grow up the way I did. I'm just saying that this is the way it was).

    I spent most of my young life eating dinners of white rice, or scrambled eggs, or cereal, or sometimes just buttered toast. Our big treat was that on Friday, my sister and I were allowed to split a can of pop. "Having ice cream" meant that every couple of weeks we'd scrape up enough coinage to by a Popsicle from the guy in the truck. Once in a while (maybe 2-3 times a year) mom would walk us to the corner (we lived in Detroit & had no car), and we'd get to have a Top Hat hamburger (Top Hat was pretty much the same as White Castle. A Top Hat burger cost $0.10, as did the can of pop my sister I split).

    And we were not, by any stretch of the imagination, the poorest of the poor. My wife's generation was the first one in her family that grew up wearing shoes.

    Now don't get me wrong - I know there are people who are genuinely struggling today, and there are people today, in this country, who are even worse off than I was as a kid. I, at least, had scrambled eggs to eat. But when I hear somebody with a computer, cell phone, iPod, car, eating expensive food (fast food. I can cook a steak dinner for my wife and I for less than the cost of a couple of burgers and fries at McDonald's), drinking quarts of pop on a daily basis, with the ability to choose food based on factors other than cost, etc., calling themselves "poor," I sometimes feel an overwhelming compulsion to stuff them into a WayBack Machine and force them to live in my childhood.
    Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

      I too grew up poor and lived in the projects in Oakland calif. Not no shoe poor but If I lost my shoes my mother would make me wear my sisters shoes cause she could not buy me another pair.
      MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

      all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
      NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
      don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




      sigpic

      my new page here,let me know what you think.


      nothing but the shadow of what was

      witchvox
      http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

        Originally posted by anunitu View Post
        I too grew up poor and lived in the projects in Oakland calif. Not no shoe poor but If I lost my shoes my mother would make me wear my sisters shoes cause she could not buy me another pair.
        I'm the oldest. If I lost my shoes, we stole new ones from Walmart - though, I don't think it was called Walmart at the time...


        Mostly art.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

          I was thinking about this very thing just the other night. There are girls my age who are at the desperate point of selling their bodies into unprotected sex in aids ridden parts of the world just so that they can feed themselves and their orphaned siblings. I, in the meantime, get flustered because the space age food box in the kitchen doesn't have the EXACT kind of food that I want at a given moment. Really makes you more grateful for what you've got.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

            I was talking to some soldiers a few years back that were friends of friends. We got into the topic of anarchism, which I obviously support to a degree, and it came up about how American anarchists, certain activist factions and punks are anti-American and how hard we as a people have it. (It makes us so angry, grr...) What one of the soldiers said gave me a new view on life (not exact quote) "Do you have a gun shoved in your face right now? Does your government send their soldiers to your house and evict you in the worst way possible just because they can? Are you starving and have nothing to eat but shoe leather and stale shit? No. Stop complaining."

            Although I still advocate certain practices and ideals of anarchism, I also see the beauty and necessity of our government. Even being considered statistically poor, I am still more abundant than most people the world over could even dream about. I won't say I am proud of my nation 100% but I know how lucky and fortunate I am living here in the modern day, especially since my grandparents on my fathers side were in camps during the Viet Nam war. I've had racism first hand, but nowhere near as bad as my grandparents and their generation (of various races, of course).

            Anyway, some of need to just be a little more real about our problems, and understand they are just inconveniences compared to what others go through on a daily basis. But, to play the devil's advocate, pain and suffering are subjective (to a degree). The Indians (Hindi's?) are a third world country yet they are also considered one of the happiest people in the world.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

              It's funny when I see those little online surveys of 'What 5 things could you not live without', and all my coworkers & buddies are like, "My iPhone, my car, my XBox...' whatever toy or game or piece of electronic wonderfulness they're obsessed with.

              There are days when I'm just happy to have electricity. Being able to go to a cabinet in my home & grab a new light bulb to replace one that's blown out is being in the lap of luxury to me. I appreciate my own ability to hold down a job to bring home a paycheck so I can keep the lights on. And hot water. And indoor plumbing. Knowing that when I come home there won't be a heroin addict dead on my steps, or gangbangers shooting at each other across the street (not that I live in the greatest neighborhood, but our meth addicts tend to die indoors). I like those things, but I've lived without them before, so I know I can live without them - but I sure don't want to live without them. Does that make me spoiled?
              The forum member formerly known as perzephone. Or Perze. I've shed a skin.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

                Originally posted by perzephone View Post
                Does that make me spoiled?
                Nope.

                That's the whole reason for working - so you DON'T have to do those things. Being poor isn't a lifestyle choice. It's what you get when you can't get good work.
                Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

                  Originally posted by B. de Corbin View Post
                  Nope.

                  That's the whole reason for working - so you DON'T have to do those things. Being poor isn't a lifestyle choice. It's what you get when you can't get good work.
                  Yep.

                  /10fucks


                  Mostly art.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

                    I wish they'd bring back the gub'mint peanut butter and cheese. I don't care what you say...those were some good eats.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

                      Originally posted by PsykhikosAnarchosNautikos View Post
                      "Do you have a gun shoved in your face right now? Does your government send their soldiers to your house and evict you in the worst way possible just because they can? Are you starving and have nothing to eat but shoe leather and stale shit? No. Stop complaining."
                      Bingo, a wartorn combat zone where people live in shelters made of the rugs pulled from the now deceased and bombed rich peoples homes changes you view of "poor," especially when you see the size of families living in places like that...

                      Originally posted by B. de Corbin View Post
                      Now don't get me wrong - I know there are people who are genuinely struggling today, and there are people today, in this country, who are even worse off than I was as a kid. I, at least, had scrambled eggs to eat. But when I hear somebody with a computer, cell phone, iPod, car, eating expensive food (fast food. I can cook a steak dinner for my wife and I for less than the cost of a couple of burgers and fries at McDonald's), drinking quarts of pop on a daily basis, with the ability to choose food based on factors other than cost, etc., calling themselves "poor," I sometimes feel an overwhelming compulsion to stuff them into a WayBack Machine and force them to live in my childhood.
                      I have jobless bloody friends, who have things like PSP and expensive phones and watches, and name brand clothes, and they complain about being poor and never having any money. One of my friends has no job and has all of these things, and lives with his mother, who can't afford her medical bills, and since she has lupus there are alot of medical bills, but she buys him $200 frickin shoes. I think some of the problems are priorities... Some people need to get them in order...
                      http://catcrowsnow.blogspot.com/

                      But they were doughnuts of darkness. Evil damned doughnuts, tainted by the spawn of darkness.... Which could obviously only be redeemed by passing through the fiery inferno of my digestive tract.
                      ~Jim Butcher

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

                        Originally posted by Maria de Luna View Post
                        I think some of the problems are priorities... Some people need to get them in order...
                        I see this a lot. One of my coworkers asked me for a loan to pay her rent after regaling me with the features on her new iPhone for a half an hour. I told her to return her phone & get her $400 back. She hasn't talked to me since.

                        Of course, my oldest sister is the same way. She's been boohooing about being broke on facebook for the past week, trying to get someone to buy her cigarettes, take her out of town and get her some Benadryl for her sneezing cat. It's driving me nuts, but I'm already supporting five people & a post-surgery dog. At least I know none of my dependents will blow money on cigarettes.
                        The forum member formerly known as perzephone. Or Perze. I've shed a skin.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

                          Originally posted by perzephone View Post
                          I see this a lot. One of my coworkers asked me for a loan to pay her rent after regaling me with the features on her new iPhone for a half an hour. I told her to return her phone & get her $400 back. She hasn't talked to me since.

                          Of course, my oldest sister is the same way. She's been boohooing about being broke on facebook for the past week, trying to get someone to buy her cigarettes, take her out of town and get her some Benadryl for her sneezing cat. It's driving me nuts, but I'm already supporting five people & a post-surgery dog. At least I know none of my dependents will blow money on cigarettes.
                          No kidding. I mean, I've been really broke for the last while, but I've still got my iphone, and my internet. Life could be worse.

                          My best friend is like this - he'll call me up to tell me he's so broke that he had to ask for rent to be late, and then in the next sentence tell me about the new car/gun/toy/videogame he bought. All I can think is "Dude, that $600 gun was more than your rent. Go pay your damn rent."

                          Love him to pieces, but money isn't really his first priority.


                          Mostly art.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

                            It's not just you....pretty much every developed country suffers from a sense of entitlement. I see it here in Germany, though to a much lesser degree...I live in Berlin, half of which was in the east and is still much poorer than the rest of the country, and many people still don't expect much. Still, some people really do. Back home in Canada...MAJOR entitlement. It's generally well off, and I think there are a lot of people who see the inability to buy whatever they want as a hardship.

                            I'm not necessarily putting that down either. I understand it because I lived it too. When you grow up with every comfort, you don't know what poor is. Your scale of "poor" is the least you've ever had, even if that was quite a bit. You see homeless people and starving kids on TV and you know that a lot of people have it much, much worse than you, but since you've never lived that, it's not really part of your reality. I didn't grow up super rich or anything, and I'm sure I remember my parents budgeting money and saying they were broke....but I never SAW it, and I'm not really sure if "broke" was more like "we can't go on vacation this year or fix that buzzing noise in the TV." When I got old enough to remember more, my family was by all definitions "well off." For a while in my 20s, I really struggled. I was fairly comfortable and was in no danger of being homeless or starving, but I was living paycheck to paycheck and if you've never done that before, it's hard. You just don't really know how. I learned, and now I'm a little more comfortable on less money (I'm actually earning the lowest amount I've ever earned, but learning to budget and prioritize did wonders).

                            I'm not trying to excuse it, and I think it would be great if people could have more perspective. I don't exactly know how you can get it though short of actually living it. Growing up, we always got told to help out, earn our own money, help others, realize how lucky we were, etc, etc, etc, but you still just -don't know- unless you're actually poor.

                            I know I'm spoiled to a large degree now...but for a long time, I didn't.

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                              #15
                              Re: Americans: sometimes it seems we are spoiled children

                              In a strange way I am grateful that I grew up poor,I know how to budget right down to the penny. I manage to cover thing,and My priority is always in this order..Rent,food,bills(phone,utilities) then and only then do I know if I have some "Extra" cash for saving for that thing I have been thinking about getting for a year.

                              I get it,people want things NOW,and it seems have never had to wait to have them.
                              MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

                              all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
                              NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
                              don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




                              sigpic

                              my new page here,let me know what you think.


                              nothing but the shadow of what was

                              witchvox
                              http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

                              Comment

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