The Lingering Tells of Poverty

When I was a kid I lived in poverty and didn't know it.

Or maybe my parents were really good at it, so I didn't recognize my lowly socio-economic status until much later in life.

 

When you are surrounded by poverty, it also is harder to identify.

I also was a "gifted" child, so I didn't fully perceive the world's hierarchy until I was in my late 20's. My gift was an ability to see through bullshit, no matter how nice your clothes or house was.... I didn't care, I wanted to know the quality of your heart, not the price tag of your shoes.

My first home was a mobile home in the middle of an Ohio cornfield of a town called Jerry City. That trailer got moved to my great-aunt & uncle's property when I was single-digits old. Eventually when aunt and uncle permanently moved to Florida, my parents bought the homestead. My great-great grandfather lived and died in that very house, so I was welcomed home by a host of generational ghosts.

As I grew up and got out on my own in my 20's and 30's I began to see these poverty patterns in myself:

Reusing Walmart bags as trash bags.

 

Only ordering "free" tap water when dining out.

 

Disdain for overpriced organic produce when I could just grow the damn thing myself for a fraction of the cost.

 

I hate shopping for clothes, what a waste of money. Eventually I'll be a seamtress like my grandmothers before me.

 

If something is more than $100, I check YouTube for the DIY version.

 

I donated plasma so I had gas money for college.

 

I have a hard time throwing away anything, so it all goes to Goodwill-- hopefully someone else will find value in it!