nickel and dimed (yes, again)
I just needed to add a little more. Look, yes, my mom has hired a cleaning lady before. And no, it's because our house is so big that we can't do it ourselves. We can, we did it for the first six or seven years that we've been it in it, but my mom's workload has gotten really heavy, my dad is admittedly just lazy unless she makes him do stuff, and I'm attempting to focus on school. I mean, she works 60 hours a week and is on her laptop practically all weekend. She's had to work for it, too. I mean, when my parents were little and living in India, they didn't even have beds. They all slept on the floor on top of like, mats. I'm not saying it to make people feel sorry for my parents, it's the truth; it's how most people lived then. So I think they've worked hard enough to have their $1000 mattress. They didn't even have enough money to buy textbooks; my mom copied an entire one by hand while she did her Masters' degree. They have worked so hard and spent so much of their lives studying to well, give me the life that I have now. And I'm so grateful, even if I don't show it enough. This book has really made me think about that. I'm not saying that all people who have hired people to clean their homes are hard working or well, good, for lack of a better word, because I know that's not the case. There are a lot of people who look down on the lower class and it truly is wrong. Just to refer to my own experience with my mom and the cleaning lady, my mom never treated her with anything but 100% respect, I mean, she gave her a case of beer every time she came and my mom practically helped her do all the stuff half the time, and once while they were cleaning the basement together (it was kind of weird, but hey, it is my family we're talking about here), they started talking politics and Bush and education and colleges and family and all this other stuff.
I don't disagree with everything Ehrenreich said, far from it, actually. I think she made some really good points, especially in her evaluation chapter, and I was truly surprised by some of the statistics she brought up. The government really cannot ignore the problems of the working poor, as she said, and Wal-Mart can't exploit their workers, and housing prices to need to come down to keep up with wages. I mean, her experience was pretty real, not very, as she always knew she could go back to her old life, but she backed up her points with her experiences. I just don't like how she did all this, and as Teresa said, she's entitled to her opinion, but I'm disagreeing with it. Which is why people debate and argue and do the things they do. Change needs to come from the government. Change needs to come from Wal-Mart. Change does not come by degrading the lifestyles of people with a higher income. And look, if you make a lot of money, what's the point of just sitting on it? We live in capitalistic society; the world goes 'round because people buy stuff. Yeah, you might not need that 5000 square foot house, but what about all the jobs that wouldn't exist if people didn't spend their money on such extravagant things? I mean, there are probably thousands of people involved in building and maintaining that house; the construction workers, the contracters, the plumbers, the electricians, the people that sell and make carpets, even the guy that comes in right after you move in and fills in little cracks in wood with clay stuff; you get the picture. Not all people are deserving of the wealth they have, though, and I understand that. But to blame the problems of the lower class on the upper and sometimes, middle classes is a kind of low blow that needs to be aimed at the policy makers in Washington, D.C.
I also need to add that I was angry yesterday, and as I look back at my previous journal entry, I realize some of my points were not backed up articulately or accurately. I hope this one came off better, at least the second paragraph. I guess I was still a bit angry when I wrote the first. Now, I'm done with this book and I don't really want to write about it ever again. I can't believe it's affected me so much.
I don't disagree with everything Ehrenreich said, far from it, actually. I think she made some really good points, especially in her evaluation chapter, and I was truly surprised by some of the statistics she brought up. The government really cannot ignore the problems of the working poor, as she said, and Wal-Mart can't exploit their workers, and housing prices to need to come down to keep up with wages. I mean, her experience was pretty real, not very, as she always knew she could go back to her old life, but she backed up her points with her experiences. I just don't like how she did all this, and as Teresa said, she's entitled to her opinion, but I'm disagreeing with it. Which is why people debate and argue and do the things they do. Change needs to come from the government. Change needs to come from Wal-Mart. Change does not come by degrading the lifestyles of people with a higher income. And look, if you make a lot of money, what's the point of just sitting on it? We live in capitalistic society; the world goes 'round because people buy stuff. Yeah, you might not need that 5000 square foot house, but what about all the jobs that wouldn't exist if people didn't spend their money on such extravagant things? I mean, there are probably thousands of people involved in building and maintaining that house; the construction workers, the contracters, the plumbers, the electricians, the people that sell and make carpets, even the guy that comes in right after you move in and fills in little cracks in wood with clay stuff; you get the picture. Not all people are deserving of the wealth they have, though, and I understand that. But to blame the problems of the lower class on the upper and sometimes, middle classes is a kind of low blow that needs to be aimed at the policy makers in Washington, D.C.
I also need to add that I was angry yesterday, and as I look back at my previous journal entry, I realize some of my points were not backed up articulately or accurately. I hope this one came off better, at least the second paragraph. I guess I was still a bit angry when I wrote the first. Now, I'm done with this book and I don't really want to write about it ever again. I can't believe it's affected me so much.