Lenten Photo Challenge: Day 14 - Poor

I used to be poor. Or at least I thought I was.

I used to think that when I was a kid that my family was poor. I don't think my father ever made more than $25,000 a year.

I knew a lot of people that had more than we did in terms of nicer, newer homes. Nicer, newer cars, and nicer or newer clothing, furniture, TVs, you name it.

But in reality, my parents were children of the Great Depression and were just frugal and we made do with what we had and when the time and money were available, we bought new things. We really never needed for anything. We were far from poor.

I realized that when I went to college.

I was poor in college.

The photo you see is what used to be the Hardee's at Parkland College. And it was my source of food for a good year. When going to school at college, I had a part time job and worked maybe 15-20 hours a week and got the minimum wage just like everyone else. I did not have much money, and had to get a helping hand from my parents every once in a while. But I still did not have much money. I was so poor that the way I fed myself was to take enough money to buy myself three single hamburgers from the Parkland Hardee's each morning at around 930 or 10am. I would promptly eat one, and stuff the other two in my back pack. At around noon or 1pm I would eat another one, or if I was going to work that evening at the place I worked, I would eat both, as I could get food where I worked. Otherwise that third one was my supper. That was pretty much it. I would have a few groceries at my apartment, but those were slim pickings at best. That was pretty much how I fed myself for the better part of a year or more. There are other instances of how poor I was but this one sticks in my mind the most.

I was poor. Or so I thought.

My dad knew better. I can remember his words when I complained about not having enough money or having a car that was less than reliable. "Quit being so damned lazy and get out and find a better job, or work some more damned hours."

Yep. I wasn't poor. My dad was right.

I was frakking lazy. I was self-imposed poor. I had every opportunity to work more hours or find another job, but I was just too lazy.

I just did not want to work more or take the time to find another job, but I was willing to accept that I was poor and it wasn't my fault. I listened to him. I changed my ways and thanks to meeting a young lady, I made sure I would never be self-imposed poor again.

And here I am going to piss some people off, but this is my blog and my thoughts so, please allow me to continue.

I firmly believe that there are truly poor people in the world and they deserve our help when or where we can help them. But I feel that most of those people that claim poverty and being poor, are just like I was. Lazy, self-imposed poor.

They have the same amount of time that we all have, but chose to use it to wallow in being "poor".

I don't believe in welfare in perpetuity. It was never designed to be a lifestyle. I believe in loans, scholarships, and pay raises or/and extra hours and second or side jobs.

I hate to be so brutally honest but that is just the way I believe.

I believe there are truly poor people in our world. But I think they are being hidden and drowned out by the lazy, self-imposed poor.