Re: Bali
Nope, never been the "working poor."
Have lost everything a time or two.
No regrets.
i do think that hard work, persistence, personal education, and following a dream is the way to go.
In the pack of footnotes I posted, in your referenced post, there were articles of the current political leadership of Haiti going to areas in Haiti that haven't been visited by the ruling politicians in thirty years. The president of Haiti is a rock star (literally). The theme song for my daughter's program, "Ti Manman Cherie" was written and sung by someone from one of these ghettos. Because of his brilliance, he is now represented by the president's own manager.
People, whether high or low on the totem pole of life are living their dreams.
I've been in the position to sleep in my truck for months on end. Not a big deal. I'm not stupid, not crippled, not mentally "off" - there just isn't too deep a rock bottom for me.
in Haiti, people eat rocks and mud to stave off hunger. Disease is wildly present. I'm so glad to hear I'm not evil, just ignorant. Within a couple of months, I'll be in Haiti building houses for people, very much worse off than I've ever been.
Since you seem to be judging me for my life, what exactly have you done for others?
I have children, step children, and grandchildren, who are hard working, hard playing members of the world community.
I never had the smarts to get stuck in the Co$, just took what I wanted (Clear, briefing course and friendships) that have stood me well over the decades. I was repairing pumps, tractors trucks, and cars, picking cherries, apricots, and walnuts shortly after learning to walk, collecting eggs, putting in sewer lines, water, electrical, and cutting up beef, fish, chicken, venison, and pork, repairing fences and going to school through my childhood. I had opportunities that few would even avail themselves of, if they were given the opportunity.
I have friends, who crawled through sewers to get to the USA, who risked their lives, quite literally, to be here. Just out of curiosity, do you even know an illegal alien? Are you yourself, homeless? What is your story? that you can judge me by?
Do you have a job? Usually someone pointing a finger has several pointing back at themselves.
Don't be so quick to write me off because I post some gnarly questions, ok?
It is not necessarily "judgmental" to get people to think, to look at things (including their personal values and strongly held beliefs) differently, and thus to possibly seek new solutions and ways of looking at some of the economic problems and conditions that plague our world, whether or not you are personally affected by those.
You wrote
People, whether high or low on the totem pole of life are living their dreams.
What a revelation it is to know that the people in Haiti about whom you wrote
in Haiti, people eat rocks and mud to stave off hunger. Disease is wildly present.
are "living their dreams."
The problems associated with poverty will never be alleviated until the underlying causes of that poverty are identified and addressed. Of course, if poverty is "their dream" then perhaps we should leave the poor alone to enjoy it...
There are those in this world who benefit from the exploitation (and resulting poverty) of others and who excuse this by promoting the idea that the "poor" are poor because they are lazy, or because they choose to be poor, or because they're "happy" to have so much less than the (relatively) "rich."
I believe that to be a myth forwarded by people --
including many who don't realize it -- who have a vested interest in making sure others have less, so they can have more, of the world's available resources and man-made comforts. Thus we have the "totem pole" you mentioned...
Charity is admirable, it can help to alleviate the immediate discomforts of poverty -- hunger, lack of shelter, disease, and so forth -- it doesn't solve the underlying causes.
As to your personal questions...
I'm not inclined to whine about my misfortunes, such as they have been, nor to brag on my accomplishments, such that they are, but here are SOME answers:
I've never been homeless; I've never been hungry; I'm not homeless or hungry now
I no longer "have a job;" thanks to a small pension from an old job plus USA Social Security benefits that I paid into back when I was employed, I'm "retired"; you are free to speculate as much a you like on the size of my income and whether or not I still
work and if I do, at what
I know lots of people (some working and some "retired") who live reasonably comfortable lives in the USA, on an income of around $1,000 per month --- the amount of money that in Bali, as you reported, buys what they would consider luxury. None of them have personal cooks or any other kind of servant in their employ, nor granite counter tops in their kitchens, nor any number of other material "things" many people in the USA seem to think are essential to life
I know quite a few immigrants and "illegal aliens" -- in fact, for several years I lived in a community populated almost entirely by illegals from Mexico and other countries south of the USofA; some had been here for many years, owned property, had businesses; some were more newly arrived. Most were fine, hard-working, pleasant people; a few weren't -- you'd find that in any community, I think. One lady I knew walked all the way from Guatemala in order to come here to live and work; I'm sure she wasn't the only one, I just happened to know that little piece of her story.
he told her " Hey honey, you done good" or similar. He was the ED of that org at that time. [ before my FEBC]
