Comments on: My Four Hours a Week in Poverty http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/ and rockin' tha house Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:28:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Stan http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1249 Stan Sun, 06 May 2007 23:23:48 +0000 http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1249 Wow. This is amazing. And tremendously sad. Wow. This is amazing. And tremendously sad.

]]> By: JanePoe (aka Deborah) http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1133 JanePoe (aka Deborah) Thu, 26 Apr 2007 05:53:40 +0000 http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1133 Thank you for painting this picture with your words Michelle. This is life in parts of America ... real true poverty. As painful as this is, we need more images to remind us that the gap between the haves and the have-nots is painfully wide. JP Thank you for painting this picture with your words Michelle. This is life in parts of America … real true poverty. As painful as this is, we need more images to remind us that the gap between the haves and the have-nots is painfully wide. JP

]]> By: gary http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1109 gary Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:09:41 +0000 http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1109 It really is good to be reminded that some kids don't have a really good start in life. That is sometimes easy for me to forget. thanks. It really is good to be reminded that some kids don’t have a really good start in life. That is sometimes easy for me to forget. thanks.

]]> By: Tonya http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1091 Tonya Tue, 24 Apr 2007 01:39:14 +0000 http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1091 This truly is an eye-opener, and very sobering for me. It puts a whole new meaning on "appreciating what I have". I'm very thankful. It's sad that the only hope someone might have of breaking out of the cycle is to join the military. What does he have to lose? This truly is an eye-opener, and very sobering for me. It puts a whole new meaning on “appreciating what I have”. I’m very thankful. It’s sad that the only hope someone might have of breaking out of the cycle is to join the military. What does he have to lose?

]]> By: Wende http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1081 Wende Mon, 23 Apr 2007 00:48:58 +0000 http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1081 I used to spend my Spring Break in the slums of Baja California/Mexico. And living, just for a week at a time, in the midst of such poverty totally changed my out look on life. While I come from extreme poverty ( my father's family were migrant workers in the south) I never knew it my day-to-day life: only when we would travel to visit. So, eating the same thing for a month was still a huge step above not having any food or electricity in the house (which was often the case for some of my cousins). Living among people who had no indoor plumbing and whose walls were made of cardboard, shifted my entire way of thinking about wealth and blessing and what living really means. I used to spend my Spring Break in the slums of Baja California/Mexico. And living, just for a week at a time, in the midst of such poverty totally changed my out look on life.

While I come from extreme poverty ( my father’s family were migrant workers in the south) I never knew it my day-to-day life: only when we would travel to visit. So, eating the same thing for a month was still a huge step above not having any food or electricity in the house (which was often the case for some of my cousins). Living among people who had no indoor plumbing and whose walls were made of cardboard, shifted my entire way of thinking about wealth and blessing and what living really means.

]]> By: saintseester http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1080 saintseester Mon, 23 Apr 2007 00:33:18 +0000 http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1080 Even natural remedies for arthritis can be expensive. My mother suffers from it, and cannot take pain remedies (she was having kidney symptoms from meds). So her doctor put her on magnesium (anti inflammatory). I wonder if magnesium rich foods would help as well. Even natural remedies for arthritis can be expensive. My mother suffers from it, and cannot take pain remedies (she was having kidney symptoms from meds). So her doctor put her on magnesium (anti inflammatory). I wonder if magnesium rich foods would help as well.

]]> By: Ken Albin http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1078 Ken Albin Sun, 22 Apr 2007 23:42:53 +0000 http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1078 Jesus, what a tale! I've had a couple of students in similar situations to what you described. It never ceases to amaze me how a combination of bad circumstances, disabilities, and ignorance can lead to this type of poverty in one of the richest countries in the world. The army saved my dad from a similar fate by giving him a job and skills that he later used to become a power and planning engineer. If he had stayed with his family in their environment he probably would have remained in a home much as you described. Growing up he had to shoot wild game or they wouldn't have had anything to eat. What makes your student's case more hopeless is his not being able to read and his apathy towards learning. That will hold him back unless you can find some way to motivate him to look beyond his current world and want something more. It's a tough challenge at his age. Jesus, what a tale! I’ve had a couple of students in similar situations to what you described. It never ceases to amaze me how a combination of bad circumstances, disabilities, and ignorance can lead to this type of poverty in one of the richest countries in the world.

The army saved my dad from a similar fate by giving him a job and skills that he later used to become a power and planning engineer. If he had stayed with his family in their environment he probably would have remained in a home much as you described. Growing up he had to shoot wild game or they wouldn’t have had anything to eat. What makes your student’s case more hopeless is his not being able to read and his apathy towards learning. That will hold him back unless you can find some way to motivate him to look beyond his current world and want something more. It’s a tough challenge at his age.

]]> By: Margaret http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1077 Margaret Sun, 22 Apr 2007 23:09:45 +0000 http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1077 Poverty to most of us is an abstract problem. I can't imagine living under those circumstances and can certainly understand why education wouldn't be the highest priority. It would be survival. Poverty to most of us is an abstract problem. I can’t imagine living under those circumstances and can certainly understand why education wouldn’t be the highest priority. It would be survival.

]]> By: Pacian http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1074 Pacian Sun, 22 Apr 2007 21:01:45 +0000 http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1074 O_O Here is my weekly tithe of respect and admiration. (Don't spend it all at once...) O_O

Here is my weekly tithe of respect and admiration. (Don’t spend it all at once…)

]]> By: Kamsin http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1073 Kamsin Sun, 22 Apr 2007 20:15:29 +0000 http://singingthesky.com/writing/2007/04/22/my-four-hours-a-week-in-poverty/#comment-1073 That is a real eyeopener. You can definitely see why the older brother sees the military as the best way out of it all. That is a real eyeopener. You can definitely see why the older brother sees the military as the best way out of it all.

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