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LonelyAspieGuy
Emu Egg
Joined: Feb 24, 2006
Posts: 4
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 Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:54 pm Post subject: How many of you have lived in poverty? |
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How many of you have known what it's like to be at the bottom of the greasy, grubby pile?
Where criminals regularly knock on your door, even at 2 in the morning to offer you a sale of a DVD player and TV they've just stolen. Where you will always have neighbours who are hard to live with who throw bricks in your garden and keep on asking to borrow stuff which you know they'll never return. Where the youths aren't just disrespectful but not to be approached at all at night if you don't want to lose your money. Where burglaries are a regular problem because of drug addicts not caring about commiting crime on their own doorstep. Where young women get recruited by the pimps and roll out babies in their mid-teens. Where any kind of taste if not related to football, hooliganism, alcohoism, drug using or gang culture is perceived as snobbery and justification for isolation and harassment. Where the nearest school is so plagued with bad behaviour that classes as a rule are disrupted and despair rather than hope is the message people are educated with. Where the doctors prescribe mountains of medication for people who have lack a healthy community and healthy environment to live with daily, where physical and social health are anomilies. Where the government bureaucrats inspect for benefit fraud, scaring poor people who lack the confidence to work into a constant dread of when their benefits might be reduced. Where most prison and psychiatric inmates grow up. |
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alex
Developer
Joined: Jun 14, 2004
Age: 22
Posts: 6273
Location: DC Metro Area
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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| I've never had that happen. |
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skafather84
Platypus God
Joined: Mar 21, 2006
Age: 23
Posts: 4478
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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| sad thing is i know what you're talking about. i haven't lived in abject poverty but i certainly didn't live in a nice area in new orleans and i've been in those areas that you talk about....horrible stuff. it's just a shame that politics are rich, elderly white guys who could care less about poor, majority black people who can't get a proper education because their school got shut down because of no child left behind. |
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julieme
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: Jun 13, 2005
Posts: 184
Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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Somewhat familiar.
Have to say though one of the higher ups in the local gang had a brother in my special ed group. As a result - bullying the special ed kids was strictly forbidden.
In that way - my life growing up was a lot better than many aspies. |
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Fiz
The Outspoken
Joined: Jan 30, 2006
Posts: 1355
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
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| Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:25 am Post subject: |
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| When I was a teen, I used to live in an area where some of it was how you describe and did my best to avoid it apart from when I was seeing friends. Where I lived in that area wasn't too bad, a little rough but ok. If I walked another 5 minutes down the road though, it was prety much as you described: lots of people with drug problems, people on benefits dreading they'd be taken off them, girls in their early teens with kids etc etc Ive seen it all. The reason for this is that some of my good friends were in this situation and would only hang out in these areas when I was seeing them. It used to scare the hell out of me though cos some of the youths regularly engaged in antisocial behaviour that was unprovoked and I was a victim of this behaviour on a couple of occasions. I never realy participated in what was seen to be the normal behaviour in that area as I didnt want to try drugs at that age and I didnt want a baby either especially not with any of those blokes I can tell you now!!!! Plus I'm not a bad person. In my late teens I manage to move away from this and now live in a quieter safer area. |
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Fiz
The Outspoken
Joined: Jan 30, 2006
Posts: 1355
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
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| Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:26 am Post subject: |
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| alex wrote: | | I've never had that happen. |
Thats good, cos it really isn't very nice at all its scary. |
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MishLuvsHer2Boys
Proud Mom to 2 boys
Joined: Oct 09, 2004
Posts: 2104
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:35 am Post subject: |
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| While we didn't live in the best of neighborhoods when I was a kid, my parents also made do a lot with very very little money that we had and all to keep things nice. There were Christmas's past that I didn't get anything for Christmas unless it was from relatives because my parents couldn't afford it. There were some where the church would get together a turkey dinner for us and all. It was not fun having very little but we made the best of it. |
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skafather84
Platypus God
Joined: Mar 21, 2006
Age: 23
Posts: 4478
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:51 pm Post subject: |
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i think whas lonelyaspie was more implying was the conditions like in the housing projects in new orleans. because that's literally how it is there. the only thing he left out of that was that if you're white, you're bound to be pulled over by the cops because they'll think you're buying drugs.
in fact, i'm pretty sure that's the kind of conditions he's talking about....which i never grew up in (thankfully) but i grew up around it and am not a stranger to it.
so to go in a similar direction with this.....anyone familiar with what's going on in new orleans with gentrification right now? they're demolishing the ghetto areas and the housing projects and building upperclass living in its place.
and honestly, i can't say if that's good or bad....there really wasn't much oppertunity for those people in the city....not enough job oppertunities, the education for them was horrible (underfunded, apathetic teachers, and the behavior problems too), and generally they would probably benefit from living in a better-off city like houston. but that's assuming they went there....those in baton rouge aren't seeing much better of a life at all.....but that's also what you make of it. when you read reports of people spending their fema money on $300 purses and other such items....it's kinda disheartening. |
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Mithrandir
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 19, 2004
Age: 22
Posts: 608
Location: Victoria, BC Canada
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| Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:07 am Post subject: Re: How many of you have lived in poverty? |
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| LonelyAspieGuy wrote: | How many of you have known what it's like to be at the bottom of the greasy, grubby pile?
Where criminals regularly knock on your door, even at 2 in the morning to offer you a sale of a DVD player and TV they've just stolen. Where you will always have neighbours who are hard to live with who throw bricks in your garden and keep on asking to borrow stuff which you know they'll never return. Where the youths aren't just disrespectful but not to be approached at all at night if you don't want to lose your money. Where burglaries are a regular problem because of drug addicts not caring about commiting crime on their own doorstep. Where young women get recruited by the pimps and roll out babies in their mid-teens. Where any kind of taste if not related to football, hooliganism, alcohoism, drug using or gang culture is perceived as snobbery and justification for isolation and harassment. Where the nearest school is so plagued with bad behaviour that classes as a rule are disrupted and despair rather than hope is the message people are educated with. Where the doctors prescribe mountains of medication for people who have lack a healthy community and healthy environment to live with daily, where physical and social health are anomilies. Where the government bureaucrats inspect for benefit fraud, scaring poor people who lack the confidence to work into a constant dread of when their benefits might be reduced. Where most prison and psychiatric inmates grow up. |
My life is way too sheltered.
I wonder if we all should not only see this life but learn what to do in those situations as well.
What is the best way to be the best "survivor" (not a pop reference)
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Music is the language of the world.
Math is the language of the universe. |
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Jetson
The Map Maker
Joined: Feb 23, 2005
Posts: 1219
Location: Vancouver, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:31 am Post subject: |
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I grew up in a one-parent family that was very close to (or below) the poverty line, in a place where "unemployment insurance" was the most common source of income (particularly after the collapse of the Grand Banks fishery). Things have only gotten worse since I left. Yes, there was crime, but I never had anyone show up at my door at 2AM selling hot DVD players. I did have someone offer to steal my car for a share of the insurance pay-out once....
Crime isn't directly related to income. There are still a lot of honest poor people in the world.
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What would Flying Spaghetti Monster do? |
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Odda
Snowy Owl
Joined: Mar 29, 2006
Posts: 157
Location: Caught in the depths, and infinite vastness of cyberspace.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm living in poverty. Have been ever since my parents got divorced. |
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newchum
Phoenix
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Joined: Aug 13, 2005
Posts: 635
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:47 pm Post subject: Re: How many of you have lived in poverty? |
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| As a little kid I certainly lived in poverty and in rough neighbourhoods. The memories of my childhood poverty still haunt me even to this day. |
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Keeno
Phoenix
Joined: Mar 09, 2006
Posts: 939
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
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| Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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Me too. Between the ages of... let's see... 0 and 7, I'm certainly under the impression that I lived in real poverty. I don't remember very much about my life between those ages, but I know my mum (who still lived at home with my gran) didn't work and was struggling.
I was then adopted, and at least my adoptive parents lived in better conditions.
Since permanently leaving home, while I've had constant employment insecurity, and below average wages when I have worked, I've been able to always live in respectable areas. |
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anandamide
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 24, 2006
Age: 44
Posts: 710
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| Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:41 am Post subject: Re: How many of you have lived in poverty? |
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| LonelyAspieGuy wrote: | How many of you have known what it's like to be at the bottom of the greasy, grubby pile?
Where criminals regularly knock on your door, even at 2 in the morning to offer you a sale of a DVD player and TV they've just stolen. Where you will always have neighbours who are hard to live with who throw bricks in your garden and keep on asking to borrow stuff which you know they'll never return. Where the youths aren't just disrespectful but not to be approached at all at night if you don't want to lose your money. Where burglaries are a regular problem because of drug addicts not caring about commiting crime on their own doorstep. Where young women get recruited by the pimps and roll out babies in their mid-teens. Where any kind of taste if not related to football, hooliganism, alcohoism, drug using or gang culture is perceived as snobbery and justification for isolation and harassment. Where the nearest school is so plagued with bad behaviour that classes as a rule are disrupted and despair rather than hope is the message people are educated with. Where the doctors prescribe mountains of medication for people who have lack a healthy community and healthy environment to live with daily, where physical and social health are anomilies. Where the government bureaucrats inspect for benefit fraud, scaring poor people who lack the confidence to work into a constant dread of when their benefits might be reduced. Where most prison and psychiatric inmates grow up. |
This is a classist description of a low-income neighborhood. There is alot in your description that is discriminatory toward poor people. I don't think this is an accurate description of a real neighborhood. I live in the slums and my relatives before me have lived in slums and the only time I have ever heard of the world you've described is while listening to the ranting and raving of one mentally ill alcoholic male relative. The world he described to me did not actually exist but was his perception of reality because of his addiction and illness.
Poor people are no more immoral or criminal than the rich people. |
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