People of WalMart

[3894]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

Ever been to a city that has completely fallen apart? I grew up an hour out of Flint, which collapsed when GM closed all its factories. There are no grocery stores left in the city of Detroit. Things are really bad for people right now.

And while the ridiculous pictures are funny, the ones that just feature photo subjects in poverty just aren't funny to me.

Do you know why you don't see them in art galleries? Because they didn't win the genetic/luck lotto you did. Do you know why they're wearing cheaply-made easy-waist pants? Because they can't afford anything else.

I agree 50%. As you all know, I live in rural Wisconsin. Most of the jobs here are minimum wage. For the better jobs, we had paper mills but only two of those are left now. There's also two big insurance companies but only the executives make good money and one of them has been quietly letting an average of 100 people go each month since November. Dairy farming is a good way to go bankrupt. There's a branch of the University of Wisconsin and several hospitals. Almost all of the good-paying jobs are held by outsiders. This is not a place where a young person has any future.

I see people just like in the photos every day. At the grocery store. At the gas station. They are the families of my children's friends and the girls in my Brownie troop a decade ago. They are the people my husband worked with before he retired.

You can get nice-looking clothes at WalMart, KMart, GoodWill, the consignment shops, and the rummage sales. If you need extra-nice clothing for a job interview, there's a charity here that will hook you up for nothing. There isn't much you can do to cover the general hard living - alcohol and substance abuse, long hours of physical labor, lack of medical and dental care. I wish everyone would try to look their best.

Most poor people keep themselves neat and clean. The people in those photos look like they've just given up.

As for the elastic waists and velcro shoes, check me out. My Eileen Fisher skirt has an elastic waist and my Ecco sandals have velcro. That's called getting older.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by 3894

Most poor people keep themselves neat and clean. The people in those photos look like they've just given up.

I'm trying not to bring my personal background into the discussion, but I'm not succeeding.

Several of my relatives on my mother's side of the family are in extreme poverty. One of my uncles wore sweat pants to my wedding. Sweat pants that we had bought for him. I'm sure people could take pictures of him if he could afford Wal-Mart. But me, all I can see is a sixty-five-year struggle, an abusive father, a school system that didn't understand dyslexia, years and years in fields and factories, digging ditches. Thank god for Medicare, which replaced his two knees which were destroyed by all of that physical labor, so that he can go back to more physical labor so they can eat. There aren't any shelters in rural Michigan. There isn't enough charity when everyone in a city needs charity.

[3894]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

Thank god for Medicare, which replaced his two knees which were destroyed by all of that physical labor, so that he can go back to more physical labor so they can eat.

Amen, LSPoorEeyorick.

There aren't any shelters in rural Michigan. There isn't enough charity when everyone in a city needs charity.

Here we have St. Vincent and Salvation Army. Each of them have limits on how long you can stay, though. It's rough in Michigan and I'd sure hate to rely on a garage sale in Flint having much useable.

The churches here will help out, as they can. If anyone here is ever in that kind of trouble and doesn't know where to turn, stop by a church. They'll get you a meal, find you a temporary place to sleep, get your kid some Huggies.

I feel guilty about talking about this stuff on this board. It's not swanky.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Agreed that most of these people are sad products of sad families, sad education, and sad circumstances. Sorry if I offended anyone.

When I look at those I mostly think "there but for the grace of God go I", which is why it's rather painful to look at. I'm probably more guilty than many of being embarrassed by my somewhat poor roots and somewhat uncouth upbringing. I can't take all the credit for the changes in my life but I know that it was only because I wanted to step up that I actually did. I have relatives who have never done well and I have to say that I think they could if they actually tried. (Just like LSPE I want to keep my personal life out of it but it ends up being integral to the conversation anyway.)

Overriding sentiment is this - we don't know these people and their circumstances so I should probably just shut up now.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I believe that either everything is okay to make fun of or nothing is. I also believe that it's possible to make fun of and/or tease someone and not do it maliciously. I love my family and I make fun of them every time we get together. We all laugh because they all know I'm not doing it to be mean--I do it because it's funny.

This world is chock full of crazy shït. Relax. Enjoy it. Laugh when you can. It's called making fun of, not making serious of, for a reason.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by 3894

I feel guilty about talking about this stuff on this board. It's not swanky.

Don't. It's important that we think outside of our little ethnocentric bubble.

We truly are a very lucky group. Despite job loss, recession, cut hours, blah blah, bad economy we haven't had anyone lose their home, be threatened with homelessness or have to make significant changes to their lifestyle.

We need to remember that not everyone is as fortunate as us.