Re: Being Poor
Stop. My family grew up poor. Mom and Dad both worked. As soon as we got older we all worked part time. My first job was working in a grocery store for a $1 dollar an hour. I busted my butt to make that dollar. I got two dollars to keep and the rest went to my folks.
One of my fringe benefits was the boss letting me take day old rolls home to my family. We'd freeze the rolls and then heat them in the oven for use.
I remember meals where the meat was far and between. Seconds were something people on television dealt with. We also rarely had left overs. Whatever was on sale and/or in season is what we ate.
Pop always made sure we had a pair of shoes for school and Sundays and a pair of inexpensive snaekers for everything else. I remember hating getting a hole in my shoe on a Monday or Tuesday. I had to use a piece of cardboard or whatever else I could find to plug the hole until Friday rolled around. Pop then took the shoes to the local shoemaker and would get them back the next day so we'd be ready for Sunday services.
My jeans were full of holes. ( This was before it was fashionable). Hand me downs were a way of life. We never had a car. We never went away on vacation. We never had enough of anything except love.
I would not trade my childhood for all the wealth in the world. My family and I were wealthy in things that are truly important. We all finished High School. 5 of us completed college.
We worked and took loans to get through college.
Poor? Materially when I was younger. Choose to get educated and work hard and you need not remain so. All of my brothers and sisters are doing well and living in the suburbs.
America is truly a place where you can get ahead. My brothers and sisters are the proof of that.
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