thanks and some serious thoughts on materialism
Thanks to people who responded to my last post. I know most people would much rather read about something interesting and witty, but my life has been neither lately.
Lately I've been thinking seriously about the value of a human life.
Since we put a dollar sign on everything, there's nothing like being very poor to make you realize that human life is no different. The poor are less valuable, there's no getting around it. There's too many of us, we cost too much, and if we all died tomorrow, there would literally be rejoicing on the part of many.
I'm made to feel that every time I turn around. Many things that most take for granted as their due are denied to me. Even the internet I'm using is paid for by someone else or I'd not have that. I have no home of my own, I own the clothes on my back and two old cars now, and a few odds and ends.
I think Mother Teresa may have owned more than I do right now, and it's something that brings a lot of anxiety, not for myself, but for my children. One is pretty much grown and an asset but my minor kids are dependent on me and I have nothing material to give them but food, and even that is provided by the state.
I'd like to find the spiritual serenity that comes with no material goods but our culture doesn't allow for that. The name we give people in my position isn't a spiritual one, it's more like "jobless loser". We value spirituality about as much as a whore values a plug nickel, so people who drop material goals to pursue spiritual ones are considered virtually insane, unless they're already loaded, then they're just called eccentric.
No doubt Christ would be padding about a mental hospital as a homeless schizophrenic in our time, as he had no home, few possessions and spent too much time talking about things people can't see, buy or touch.
You'd think my kids would hate me for being poor, and sure, they'd love to have a few goodies, but they don't complain much about getting very little. I can't tell if they've given up asking (I had to deny my son a 5 dollar game yesterday...I just don't have 5 dollars for him this week, gotta pay car insurance)or just are truly the non-materialists I've raised them to be. I'd like to think the latter, but it's probably the former.
I think the way the world is going, the USA in particular, we'd all better learn some non materialist attitudes. The USA is number one in nothing, our economy is shot and everyone is fighting over the scraps. We're going out not with a bang, but a big long whiny whimper of denied self-indulgence
I've become an expert on poverty survival, not by choice.
What I've learned about poverty is that very few people care nor do they see it as the underlying problem of a lot of other problems and that if there ever was a war on poverty, poverty has won, hands down.
We have more poor than ever before and we're bound to have more. The jails are full of the poor, the charities are strained, social services are too and still...we treat poverty like it's the fault of the poor.
Sure, some people will never want to work, but working for nothing is hardly work incentive. The only work many people can do is so low paying they barely feel it's worthwhile. We've run out of Puritan work ethic to beat people with, and a good many people have gotten to smart for that anyway.
They're doing the math and for some people, it's a quarter of their measly paycheck just for transportation.
I know one woman who works part time at a day care for minimum wage and makes about 200 a week. After paying for her own child's care, she has a 100 dollars of that, and another 40 goes for gas. That means she's working for 60 dollars a week and no benefits. Still, she insists on working because she's afraid she'll never get Social Security or Medicare otherwise.
Sixty bucks a week to work for 40 years in the future, to pay someone else minimum wages to raise your child and to feel USEFUL because you're working instead of staying home.
Because that's really what it's all about. Many would rather have a low paying job, even pay to go to work because having no job means you're useless,lazy, a bum, a nobody.
We define ourselves by our work in America. Women still say "homemaker" with shame, and are penalized for it by not only society, but by the government. The US government doesn't reward stay at home moms, in fact, it penalizes them, and treats them like the unemployed or worse...I never got unemployment when I couldn't work in my own home for some reason.
We say we value family, children, and spirituality but we really value working for 7.50 an hour over any of that any day.
If someone can explain how any of this works for our benefit as individuals or a nation, I'd love to hear it.
Lately I've been thinking seriously about the value of a human life.
Since we put a dollar sign on everything, there's nothing like being very poor to make you realize that human life is no different. The poor are less valuable, there's no getting around it. There's too many of us, we cost too much, and if we all died tomorrow, there would literally be rejoicing on the part of many.
I'm made to feel that every time I turn around. Many things that most take for granted as their due are denied to me. Even the internet I'm using is paid for by someone else or I'd not have that. I have no home of my own, I own the clothes on my back and two old cars now, and a few odds and ends.
I think Mother Teresa may have owned more than I do right now, and it's something that brings a lot of anxiety, not for myself, but for my children. One is pretty much grown and an asset but my minor kids are dependent on me and I have nothing material to give them but food, and even that is provided by the state.
I'd like to find the spiritual serenity that comes with no material goods but our culture doesn't allow for that. The name we give people in my position isn't a spiritual one, it's more like "jobless loser". We value spirituality about as much as a whore values a plug nickel, so people who drop material goals to pursue spiritual ones are considered virtually insane, unless they're already loaded, then they're just called eccentric.
No doubt Christ would be padding about a mental hospital as a homeless schizophrenic in our time, as he had no home, few possessions and spent too much time talking about things people can't see, buy or touch.
You'd think my kids would hate me for being poor, and sure, they'd love to have a few goodies, but they don't complain much about getting very little. I can't tell if they've given up asking (I had to deny my son a 5 dollar game yesterday...I just don't have 5 dollars for him this week, gotta pay car insurance)or just are truly the non-materialists I've raised them to be. I'd like to think the latter, but it's probably the former.
I think the way the world is going, the USA in particular, we'd all better learn some non materialist attitudes. The USA is number one in nothing, our economy is shot and everyone is fighting over the scraps. We're going out not with a bang, but a big long whiny whimper of denied self-indulgence
I've become an expert on poverty survival, not by choice.
What I've learned about poverty is that very few people care nor do they see it as the underlying problem of a lot of other problems and that if there ever was a war on poverty, poverty has won, hands down.
We have more poor than ever before and we're bound to have more. The jails are full of the poor, the charities are strained, social services are too and still...we treat poverty like it's the fault of the poor.
Sure, some people will never want to work, but working for nothing is hardly work incentive. The only work many people can do is so low paying they barely feel it's worthwhile. We've run out of Puritan work ethic to beat people with, and a good many people have gotten to smart for that anyway.
They're doing the math and for some people, it's a quarter of their measly paycheck just for transportation.
I know one woman who works part time at a day care for minimum wage and makes about 200 a week. After paying for her own child's care, she has a 100 dollars of that, and another 40 goes for gas. That means she's working for 60 dollars a week and no benefits. Still, she insists on working because she's afraid she'll never get Social Security or Medicare otherwise.
Sixty bucks a week to work for 40 years in the future, to pay someone else minimum wages to raise your child and to feel USEFUL because you're working instead of staying home.
Because that's really what it's all about. Many would rather have a low paying job, even pay to go to work because having no job means you're useless,lazy, a bum, a nobody.
We define ourselves by our work in America. Women still say "homemaker" with shame, and are penalized for it by not only society, but by the government. The US government doesn't reward stay at home moms, in fact, it penalizes them, and treats them like the unemployed or worse...I never got unemployment when I couldn't work in my own home for some reason.
We say we value family, children, and spirituality but we really value working for 7.50 an hour over any of that any day.
If someone can explain how any of this works for our benefit as individuals or a nation, I'd love to hear it.