reflection 7
The video documentary " The Line" was about stories of people across the country that is living or at the poverty line. That is the first time that I have gotten to see what its really like on the other side. The sad part is this are incent people that were not born into that life just some event that happened unexpectedly that brought them to poverty. The one story that hit me the most was the single dad John. He had the best college education, was an A student and for good part of his life was making a six figure salary. Than the market crashed and he was jobless , his wife left him to raise his kids by him self. But its not like he just stopped trying he went back to school to get a degree in elementary education and still didn't make ends meat because he could never get full time job.
This story of John triumphs over all the negative stereotypes about people that are poor and struggling. He was not uneducated , he was willing to do anything to keep his kids in the house they live in and panicked when the heat or the electric was turned off. even if he was embarrassed he stood in line at the food bank just so he could feed his kids. The stereotypes obviously are not true and it makes you think that these stereotypes are made by the folks that don't live close to the poverty line. These are the people that could come up with a solution and could help the community in a huge way. The people that can afforded to by so much food that it ends up being wasted and the clothes that may buy and than throw away. All those luxuries that that most of us take for granted could be used to solve the poverty problem.
Also seeing in the video it also talked about poverty of natural resources, with the older gentleman that used his boat as his only source of income. That when he was younger that the job that he does or did made enough for anyone to feed and talk care of ones family. But now after time has gone by and the natural disaster's that have happened that this will no longer be like that. He also explained that all the people who live in his town were below the poverty line and that they can not do anything about it. The saddest part was when he said" that the day that the electricity goes out in the households they are going to have to live around that because they cant pay their bills and that the church was paying people's bills were no longer there. So those people have nothing.
This story actually made me tear up a bit because you realize there are people who are fighting to survive. I admire all of these people stories who kept trying even when all odds were stacked against them.
ReplyDeleteI was in shock when I saw these peoples stories, and felt that I was over privileged to have what I have. I couldn't believe that people wouldn't have jobs even if they're educated, and even if they weren't, you'd think that there would be more people out there to take them under their wing, and give them work to do. This greatly reminded me to never take anything for granted.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that people are often too embarrassed to asked for help when they are struggling with money. We need to stop thinking of being poor as a bad thing, that way people won't be afraid of people making fun of them for asking for help.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to those that commented before me, I also think that these stories were sad and shocking. They were also very eye opening. When you think of people living privileged lives, you don't think of them every falling below the poverty line. However, this can happen to anyone.
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