Last week a local school district conducted a “poverty simulation” to make students more sensitive to the plight of the poor. As a part of the experience students were allowed to steal to make ends meet. When a friend of mine, Cheryl Jackson (Founder of Minnie’s Food Pantry), expressed outrage over the characterization of poor people as thieves the organizers of the event said the simulation was based on real life events and that sometimes you have to go to extremes to make ends meet. And what were those real life events you might ask? Being a single parent, recently unemployed and grandparents raising grandkids.
Now those of you that know me well can imagine how I reacted. After all, I have been two of those three things – at the same time I might add. But uncharacteristic of my nature, I decided to wait before posting my views on the blog so that I could respond rather than react. However, waiting has not cooled my ire. Instead watching the video from Channel 8 again has only inflamed me more. It is for one simple reason – poverty does not breed and is not synonymous with a lack of integrity. People who steal may or may not be poor. They are, however, thieves. All thieves are not poor and all poor people are not thieves.
How do I know? Well for one thing, I have been in their shoes. When I was pregnant with my son I had no health insurance. I was a college student, worked part-time making minimum wage and struggled to make ends meet. Once a month, I spent countless hours waiting to see whichever doctor was working the free clinic. I survived with my WIC voucher and the food my boyfriend and I bought on his parent’s gas card at the convenience store attached to the gas station. The only reason I didn’t have food stamps was because they wouldn’t give them to me. Back then, if you had a piece of car you fell outside the income eligibility for food stamps. (BTW, that’s when I realized that government assistance was a racket to keep you perpetually locked in poverty. The rules made no sense and offered no incentive to make improvements to your life. But that’s another blog…)
I see people struggling and I see myself 25 years ago. $5 in my pocket, a backpack on my back and a baby on my hip doing the best I could with what I had. What they call “desperate” I just called life. But you know what? I didn’t become a thief. Neither do thousands – no millions – of other people who struggle every day all around the world to feed their families.
When I look in the face of someone down on his or her luck, I am keenly aware but for the grace of God there go I. In truth, it could be any one of us. Has the recession not taught us that one bad decision can erase 30, 40 even 50 years of success in the blink of an eye? If you don’t believe me, just spend some time with cancer patients. They’ll tell you how prolonged medical care can wipe out a family’s entire savings in a matter of months – with or without health insurance.
It is unconscionable to me that anyone trying to teach students about the plight of the poor would introduce the concept of stealing. What, pray tell, is the lesson in that? Listen, I am not an idiot. I do understand that desperation causes some people to make bad decisions. And I suppose there are statistics that abound that tell you the majority of people in prison come from impoverished backgrounds. I am not arguing those facts. However, I am convinced that there are a lot more people living in poverty who are good, upstanding, hard-working people than there are who are thieves.
I understand that most of our children have lived a very privileged life. I joke with my son all the time that I have no doubt he will be a success. When he asks why I tell him because you have no coping skills for poverty. And, I’m only half kidding. In trying to make up for all we didn’t have when we were young we have in some respects over indulged our children. I’m not criticizing. I’m in the boat with you. So, I understand our need to balance out their exposure. But let’s not do that by correlating theft and poverty. My parents taught me that all people deserve respect, regardless of their income or ethnicity. If we teach our children to look at poor people as possible thieves, how do we expect them to treat those who are less fortunate than ourselves?
Instead, let’s teach our children about compassion, and service. Teach them that to whom much is given much is required. Teach them about respect and open-mindedness. Above all, teach them about love.
Get out of the simulator and go out into the streets. Volunteer as a family. Stop treating those in need like lepers! You don’t need pretend poor people. Go to the homeless shelter and talk to some folks. Once you hear their story, you’ll be surprised to find you have a lot in common. Same hopes and dreams for their kids. Same ambitions for them as you have for you. Same gratitude for the blessings God has given them, despite the circumstances.
We can all make a difference if we stop being spectators or students and just start serving. Cheryl always quotes Mother Theresa – If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one. Be the example you want your kids to emulate. Just feed one…
Loving on Me as I Love You!
This article has totally made my day! Thank you so much for sharing your story & the plight of many, including myself.
Thank you for leaving a note Robin. God bless you and your family.
Interestingly, we know several movie stars that have been caught stealing so, it doesn’t have anything to do with income level. Thanks for this article.
Thanks Tamara. Hopefully others will expand their thinking after reading the blog. Be blessed!
That’s a pretty broad statement about “government assistance was a racket to keep you perpetually locked in poverty. The rules made no sense and offered no incentive to make improvements to your life.” I know PLENTY of people who have had to make use of government assistance for a period in their lives and kept plodding away until they no longer needed it and moved on to become self sustaining again. Remember, the people who make the rules have probably NEVER had to use them and have no idea how to best draft the rules. Instead of a blanket statement like this, why not submit suggestions as to how the rules could be improved upon in order to best “offer incentives”. Otherwise, I am in total agreement with your blog.
Hi Katharyn, thanks for reading and leaving your important observation. Yes, it is a blanket statement – one which I’ll unpack in a future blog. However, I do agree with you. There are many, many people who utilize government assistance for a period of their lives and then roll off when they no longer need it (or run out of benefits). As government assistance comes in many forms I imagine most of us could say we are a recipient in one form or another. I didn’t say it wasn’t possible, just that the system was not always supportive of the matriculation. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts! Would love to hear what others think! Katrina
Thanks for speaking out. I too have been a single parent, poor and jobless. I too have had to use that gas card to buy food for my children – we were actually laughing last week about how I am so adamant now about organic, small farmed, healthy food and yet for 12 very long months we ate whatever was in that gas station. I too never thought of stealing to make ends meet. It still amazes me how people love to categorize “poor” people as shiftless, lazy, overall non-human. In my previous jobs, I stopped counting how many times I heard that “poor” parents were not qualified to make education choices for their children because they were obviously stupid and didn’t really care for them because they were after all “poor” as though they chose this situation. When I was “poor” I definitely did not want a hand-out, but dear lord I definitely wanted and needed a hand-up. Being “poor” is not a crime but defaming those that are should be.
Government is such a “huge animal” it is amost impossible to accomplish the objectives intended b/c when you are so far removed from the actual “operation” level, you don’t even realize what effect the policies/procedures you are writing are having on the real world. I retired from IRS as a Sr. Fiancial Products and Transaction Examiner. “National Office” was the place where Congressional Intent was interpreted and tax regulations written that would govern a specific law. As an Agent, I was in the field and actually examined the tax records. Anyway, this particular “proposed regulation” was written and sent out. I called one of the attorneys and told him what they were proposing in no way took into account what actually happened during an examination. This particular attorney asked me to send him my write up that described the actual examination process of discovery (factual gathering). He reviewed this and rewrote the regulation to incorporate what actually happens. I think this is what happens with almost all of the governmental agencies. People writing policies that have no concept of what actually happens at field level so people in the field are following rules that don’t make sense for the situation. That sometimes results in the counter-productive situation you are speaking of. Anyone writing the policies to govern government assistance should be required to spend A MINIMUM of one day per quarter in the field to see what is actually happening. Anyone writing policies and procedures regarding education should be required to spend A MINIMUM of one day per quarter in an actual classroom and see what teachers are actually dealing with … THEN, write the policy and procedure. I will get off my soap box. Please, others weigh in on this. Thanks for allowing me to get this out there. Blessings.
This is very scary. What type of administration thought up this exercise? Why don’t schools teach those same children basic life skills. Budgeting, saving, meal planning with limited resources and family planning. Then they should have them volunteer at a soup kitchen or shelter and help others using their new skills.
Completely agree! Thanks for commenting.
Thank you, Katrina, for taking on that school’s approach in teaching students about poverty. Unfortunately they taught the students to judge others by making assumptions. I’ve been there too, as a single mother, my parents were deceased. When my business went belly up, the only resource available to us was food stamps (pre-cursor to WIC). On food stamp day at the welfare office, the line we were in went out the door and around the sides of the building and we stood — young, old, and disabled — in the hot sun. I have a problem with the values of an agency that treats its “customers” like that. I wanted someday to take chairs and lemonade back to that building. I’ve worked for organizations that served low-income persons. I think they have so little that they stand strong on their values and faith. I knew a family living in a car whose boy gave his share of their last piece of baloney to a fellow homeless person looking for food. I agree with others, the children should provide a service to poor persons after first being taught to be respectful.
Thanks for sharing your insightful blog! Very thought provoking and no doubt educational for many. All the best, Katrina