Is it enough?

When thinking about whom in our society is wasteful and often takes for granted the things in life that they do have, it is easy to point an immediate finger to the wealthy. Well if you were to take that finger and turn it around 180 degrees then you would have the right culprit. That’s right, it’s you! Don’t even try and say that I have no way of knowing if you take things for granted or not, because I do know. Maybe you haven’t taken the time to reflect on how easy you really do have it. Hopefully I can offer some insight to you.

While reading the book Nickle and Dimed I’ve come to see the true value of money. I myself have a job at the age of only sixteen. I make just above minimum wage and to me my paychecks seem rather substantial. But I don’t know how people live off of this same salary that I take for granted. I waited three months for that job call-back, at the time I didn’t care much. However, had I been one of the 72,598,398 under eighteen and in poverty, those three months would have left me cold and hungry.

The idea of supporting yourself or even a family on such menial wages is absurd. $7.25⁺ is acceptable pay when 90% of that money is going to a savings account because your parents are still paying for your cost of living. But what about the woman with a 9month old baby, no healthcare, living in a van outside Wallmart. Is $7.25⁺ an hour enough for her? If there is even the slightest hesitation in answering that question then you still do not understand the truth of these circumstances. But I think it is hard for anyone to truly grasp these conditions unless they have been there themself.

This is why I am left questioning the choices being made, or being claimed to be made, in this recent election between Barrett and Walker. The media is filled with ads lashing back at one another and never truly addressing the problems at hand. I have no doubt that they have spent extensive time on research to back up their reasoning’s but what does research have in comparison to experience? I would like to see how their views about welfare reform would change after spending a week in the shoes of the woman mentioned earlier. It is near impossible to truly grasp the life on minimum wage unless you have been there. So again, what reason should we believe Barrett over Walker or vice versa? Are they really who we should be consulting about such issues?

Maybe I am wrong; maybe these men do have the credentials to make these choices. Perhaps I haven’t stumbled upon them yet. I leave you with that, as I continue my search for such answers….