we shall inherit the earth....History Part II

I think poverty is inherited just like wealth. There are the vast majority that don’t choose to be poor, but are simply born to it.

What I’m finding is the majority of the pundits have never gone to bed hungry or suffered the social stigma of uncut hair or clothes that don’t fit. I am the youngest of five. My grandfather came to this country and picked oranges in ventura county. He came here with a dream of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That dream he held to the very end and died with him clutched in his calloused hands and weathered skin from many many long days in the sun. My grandmother with her eighth grade education worked in the Sunkist packing plant along with my great aunts. My mother found herself, as many women did of her age, a bride at the end of a shotgun with two children by the age of 17 and not able to go beyond the 10th grade. By the time my father left, we were standing in the long lines for government cheese in the central valley. The land of dust bowl migrants of the depression era. My school lunches were provided by the state. All of this was lost on me for the most part early on. The realization came slowly. Like a cruel inside joke that becomes clear to it’s victim long after. The lunch tickets for the poor kids were a different color. I quickly learned to palm my ticket and slip it to the lunch lady unnoticed so as not to endure the snickers from my peers. Being the youngest, most of my clothes were hand me downs. Hand me downs from used clothing to begin with.

Why is it that those that want to blame the poor for being poor have never gone without?

We were a welfare family. That is to say we leaned heavily on what the government could provide so my mother could do what she needed to do. She went back to school and still managed to hold two jobs. She raised 5 children on her own. She never missed a payment on the mortgage and proudly paid off her house some time ago. We have all made a better life than my grandparents, or my parents. I am certain this would not have been possible without the aid of welfare. I can also say with certainty that these programs that raised me are no longer there. Just like music & art classes. they are more urban legend to kids today. Sadly the effort to better ones life is so extreme that the American Dream is more of a fairy tale than a possibility.

Some ask why the poor have so many children. Several reasons. First, children bring an amazing amount of joy to ones life. I know this is true as a mother myself. Second, the government can’t tell or some how inhibit you from doing so. And perhaps it can be said that we are sexual beings. and lets face it…if you have nothing to do, nowhere to go, not sure what is going to happen to you and your life, sex is a great alternative and stress reliever.


Ya know what else? We need a leader that has at least once in his life, eaten a ketchup sandwich. I’m not kidding. I think Bill Clinton has had a ketchup sandwich. Hillary, maybe not. Obama, i'm not sure either. And I’m not talking about ketchup from some fancy bottle either…I’m talking about room temperature packets that have some kinda dried crap on the outside that force you to be very careful when opening them as not to get said crud on anything you are possibly going to eat. I want my leader to have been so poor at least once in his life, either as a child or perhaps in the college years, or maybe even later in life, say, after the first child came and you were busy feeding it and making your due with a big ‘ole ketchup sandwich on cheap white bread.