Poor people aren’t always lazy people

The poor aren’t necessarily ALL lazy.

Don’t get me wrong.

Some of them are definitely lazy.

It is definitely a lack of wanting to work for anything that got them to where they are.

Some just turn to a life of crime, or begging, because it simply makes more money than working an actual job and having to show up on time to work.

But there are others for whom there have been no opportunities or chances to better themselves. Be it a lack of education because of money, or lack of opportunities for jobs.

My own extended family on one side is dirt poor which is an interesting contrast to my extended family on the other side who are millionaires.

poor-familyMy aunt used to spend 15 hours a day peeling vegetables for $1.

$1 in their local currency.

Barely enough to even buy the couple of vegetables that she had spent hours peeling.

But she did it.

She worked for $1 a day, because she had a need to contribute to the family.

Did I mention no government help at all?

There just weren’t any jobs available and she had no education or proper skills to help her succeed.

Even if she had proper education or skills, she admitted that she just didn’t have the intelligence to compete with others who were just hungrier (and smarter), fighting for those very few jobs and spots that would give them a light at the end of the tunnel.

It was like being in a permanent recession.

My aunt lived with her 3 other brothers and sisters and my grandmother in the home.

depression-family-3They survive because she had other siblings like my parents who were better off, and sent money to their mother and other siblings who lived at home, to help them out.

They didn’t live in utter poverty, because they were saved by their kind hearted siblings who could relate to the jobless hell they were living in.

All the money my parents sent, was carefully kept in a jar, rationed like it was their last windfall, and spent very, very frugally.

They made all their own clothes out of old scraps of cloth, or they wore clothes we’d send by the suitcases back home.

They grew as many vegetables as they could. They ate very little meat, as it was expensive.

And they lived in a modest but comfortable house without any air conditioning or heating system.

No television, no radio, and a little telephone for precious, rationed calls.

In that household, there was only one aunt who was a complete deadbeat.

She didn’t have the sense of hard work or ethic, and felt entitled to the money sent to the home.

She had always thought from young, that she was a princess of sorts, and that a White Knight would come along to save her from her situation.

He never came of course, and she thought it was because of her family that he never materialized.

4178 Poverty East Timor Poor Family of DiliWhen we visited, she refused to even come out of her room and acknowledge our family, even to make a little conversation as her way of saying thanks.

She loathed my parents for having money, having worked hard and gotten lucky to be able to get out of the situation.

It was like having two aunts who were night and day.

My aunts and uncles would have killed for the opportunities given kids here in North America.

Opportunities that some kids are wasting.

And they have tried to find jobs, but there just simply aren’t any, or they have been taken by others.

They can’t even become homeless hobos, because they would die on the streets, as no one has any money to spare for the homeless.

Poor people are sometimes just born at the wrong place at the wrong time.

About the Author

Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver. I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year. Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about my story here, or visit my other blog: The Everyday Minimalist.