Well, that was interesting.

I'll be honest, I had no idea what I was in for when they accepted my post...

Almost 400 comments.

Personal emails about our circumstances and my writing.

1 job offer!

Linked in my (real name!) facebook feed this morning by people I know.


However, the two things I found truly surprising were 1) the amount of judgmental assumptions and 2) the number of people who knew from first hand experience how ridiculous those were, and defended me and all other low income people. I did not post it on there myself, so I didn't have an account to reply, but there were several times I was watching comments going by, shouting "YES!! Thank you for saying that!"

Several assumptions were made by people who obviously never bothered to read my blog, which is ok, but who also seemed to have an extreme prejudice against people who need help. Some of those assumptions were:

We live in too big of a house, and pay too much in rent/mortgage.
We have too many cars, and we have car payments because we want "new cars".
We don't utilize public transportation.

-No. I live in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment in a "low rent" area. In order to pay less than an outrageous amount in rent each month, we have to live farther away from my husband's work. This requires a vehicle of our own, because there is no public transportation where I'm at. Our only option if we can't drive is a taxi! It was because of this that we bought another vehicle. I cannot take my husband to work AND get my daughter to school on time and get to appointments etc. Both our vehicles are about 15 years old, and were bought off craigslist. Which we were only able to do after our tax return.

We make $50,000 a year. (HA!)
We are reproducing like crazy.
SNAP is enough to cover food costs for a month for 4 people.
My husband makes plenty of money to cover necessities, I just go to the food bank so I can have an IPhone/big screen tv/designer clothes because it's no questions asked.

Also, no. To me, $50,000 a year would mean we had finally made it, we were no longer "poor". We live in an area where the economy is just starting to recover, and ANY job over minimum wage is a "good job".  We do have smart phones, but mine is 4 years old, water damaged, and slow. My husband's original one died, and he needed one for work. We bought a cheapie at walmart. We have an old, regular sized tv. Anyone who read my blog knows any "designer" clothes I have came from the $2/bag special at the thrift store. Also, they forget that SNAP means SUPPLEMENTAL Nutrition Assistance Program. A $32/month supplement to "not enough to buy food" really doesn't help much.

But anyways, I know the people here, who read and comment and empathize with my struggle - who have been there at one time or another - don't really expect or need me to justify and explain everything. So why do I?

My hope in blogging about my family's journey is to raise awareness about poverty, yes, but also to raise awareness that people need to be more sensitive and empathetic to each other. It's because it is my hope that somehow, in some sentence I write, I can open up the eyes of those judgmental people to help them understand that not everything is black and white. Not everyone is taking advantage. And just because you are doing fine or made it out of a broken system, doesn't mean everyone else is or does. The system is still broken, you just happen to be on the right side of it. It is not easy to be poor. It is even harder to be poor and judged for every tiny little aspect of one's life that really has little affect on the overall picture of poverty.

No wonder people are afraid to admit they're struggling. Once they do, they instantaneously have all kinds of bad traits attributed to them. No wonder I'm terrified someone might find out my real name. Because then I would feel the shame they want me to feel for simply being different. This is prejudice.

This is a terrible thing we've done to people in this country. The only way to succeed in this country shouldn't be on the backs of other people, we should also be able to succeed by supporting each other.