Well of Financially? Do you spend much time really talking to poor people?
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Gee, I guess I’m happy for you that you’re having an eye opening experience and have learned so much about the plight of the poor with so little of an investment of your time. You must really be awesomely special. Thank you for listening to poor people and learning about the colorful stories and lives. The world needs more you.
NOT everyone who is poor has problems like you describe... Too bad your nose is stuck so high in the air as to see any type of possibilities other than your own self absorbed life...
Well remember the woman he dated had to put up with his shortcomings as well.
Location: Northern Ireland and temporarily England
7,668 posts, read 5,260,330 times
Reputation: 1392
Not poor, not rich but middle class. I talk to most people but find it hard to talk to some people who are from lower incomes.
They can get a bit jealous and bitter. I've had some turn real sour and nasty over jealousy. Of course having more money doesn't make you better but if people get bitter and start getting rude then i've got no time in my schedule for them
We actually had a friend tell us that a friend's mother (council estate) was bitching that my mother was a snob because she dressed well. My mother is the most respectful woman i've ever met, she dresses up because she respects herself. You can't really please some people. It's just annoying that jealousy has to play a part in alot of people's lives.
I think it's less about being wealthy or poor - and more about your upbringing. I, too, am from a somewhat 'wealthy' family, but my parents always stressed gratitude, helping others, respect, learning responsibility - and choices have consequences.
Wealth (or poverty) doesn't mold you. Parents/family and people in your life do. A positive parenting experience can be rich or 'poor'.
This topic is reminding me of a "situation" I am experiencing with a family friend. When we moved here, he was the first man friend that my DH met, they had some interests in common and we were very close neighbors, so they started working on projects together. I don't like the guy particularly, but his wife is nice and we have entertained each other in our homes and dined out, etc. All of us are comfortably retired but not wealthy. We live in a neighborhood with some very wealthy people. Lately the friend/neighbor has started asking us, whenever he has out of town guests, to take him and his guests on a tour of the lake on our boat. This has happened twice and both times when we are checking out the large lakefront homes and cruising around he assumes a haughty attitude and says to all (I'm quoting exactly here) "I wonder what the poor people are doing now?" He says it like a joke, but both times it just felt so nasty for him to say that. No one replies and it's sort of embarrassing that he acts like an ass that way, especially when he can't afford a boat of his own and basically uses us as his personal tour guides. His son and DIL/grandkids are in town now, and he has asked us to take them out on the boat this week. I'm trying to think of something to say that will express my disgust if he makes this comment again, without completely destroying my DH's friendship with this guy. I've told my DH that this will be the last time we accommodate him this way. Since I grew up poor it's irritating, to say the least, and I feel it's extremely low class of him to behave like he's better than others, while taking advantage of our generosity and apparently trying to impress his own family.
People of good upbringing would not bring up the economic differences between people in conversation with those people, and I have no doubt that Blondebaerde's walk on the other side of the tracks proved that the "working poor" lady he dated ("just to see how other's live"...LOL) had a lot more class than he did. Since when do you date people just to observe them like some social experimental test subject??? People have feelings and don't appreciate snobs looking down their noses and telling them how they are living their lives all wrong.
I'm a person who grew up seriously poor. My multi-divorced mom was a waitress who often worked multiple jobs to support us 5 kids, mainly on tips. Never did she take public assistance. We were actually taught that you pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, and as mom said "God helps those who help themselves". So I wear the bootstrapper label proudly. Of myself and my siblings, none graduated college, but all are middle to upper middle class folks, who are retired or will retire within two years with nice homes in good areas. We travel in middle and upper middle class circles and no one would guess that we spent our early years scratching to barely keep a roof over our heads. Do I hang with folks with less? Yes. We are still friends with the people we knew on the way up and would never abandon them. They find their way in life and we find ours. Are we friends with our neighbors who are retired engineers and execs? Yup. No difference in our eyes, except the types of activities we participate in together differ, and we let our hair down a little more with the folks from our grittier past.
.... Respect!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
