So anyway...

anna.oskar

I'm watching Prince Caspian, eating reese's cups, and contemplating a paper I need to write.  

The paper isn't tough, just a few pages from a personal perspective, but it's got me thinking since the topic is about what poverty means to me.  I'm torn between two thoughts.  A more literal definition involving the absence of materials such as food, water, and shelter is certainly more straightforward.  But taking a, "you can't be truly poor as long as you have your health, love, and hope" approach is appealing to me as well.  Something to ponder anyway.

Girlie1030

For me, poverty is literal.  Desolation is the other, IMO. 

I had Arby's for lunch and I don't feel even a little bad about it. 

cnf2013

Could you incorporate both? I love the second idea, what an interesting twist of perspective. 

azdancer8

I agree with Girlie. Health, love and hope can only take you so far if you're literally unable to meet the needs of your family. 

kd.joseph

I've been there, but than again when I look back I really wasnt as bad off as other people. I wasnt living in a box on the street, eating at a soup kitchen. I was never too cold or too hungry. I've lived pay check to pay check with the wolf at the door. But, to not have anything coming in at all, I've never known that.

Lunch was a quesadillia. Now I want a reeses cup.

button6004

I had a salad.  Now I want a quesadilla.  At least I get to have grilled cheese when I get home.

anna.oskar

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_so-anyway?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:acc06059-4a31-46da-939f-12b53acc20ddPost:cf5656d8-e6cb-45bb-ba16-45ae8c577fe8">Re: So anyway...</a>:
[QUOTE]I agree with Girlie. Health, love and hope can only take you so far if you're literally unable to meet the needs of your family. 
Posted by azdancer8[/QUOTE]

<div>True, but would a person with those things be "richer" than one without?  Especially if both lack the necessities of life?</div>

anna.oskar

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_so-anyway?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:acc06059-4a31-46da-939f-12b53acc20ddPost:d62ecbd5-3088-457d-a565-9263ec266ed7">Re: So anyway...</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: So anyway... : Well, yes, but someone in a homeless shelter with a $5 bill is "richer" than the person next to them with only 6 nickels too.  That doesn't make the $5 guy NOT impoverished. Also, as someone who grew up pretty poor and who's husband works with impoverished and at risk teens, i can tell you that lack of basic necessities like enough food and shelter are actually lower on Bloom's Taxonomy than emotional fulfillment for a reason.  <strong>Meaning (according to that theory at least) you cannot properly achieve or at least recognize things like Hope and Love until those baser needs are secured.</strong>
Posted by StageManager14[/QUOTE]

<div>That's interesting.  I know nothing about Bloom's taxonomy but that sounds like something that might feed my brain a little knowledge (heavens know I need it today).  Thanks for bringing that up.  i didn't know the bolded portion at all but it does make sense.</div>

azdancer8

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_so-anyway?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:acc06059-4a31-46da-939f-12b53acc20ddPost:11808700-4033-4076-9ee0-b630678b3204">Re: So anyway...</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: So anyway... : True, but would a person with those things be "richer" than one without?  Especially if both lack the necessities of life?
Posted by anna.oskar[/QUOTE]


I think in that case, yes. If you take two people with otherwise equal status, I believe that the one who has love and hope is "richer". But if they are missing the basics, they'll have trouble getting to those more emotional areas. (So says Maslow, anyways.)<div>
ETA: Sorry the pic is so big, it won't let me resize. And I missed StageManager's post - I think we're referring to the same general idea.
<div><div>
</div><div>
<div><img src="http://www.simplypsychology.org/Hierarchyofneeds.jpg" alt="" /> </div></div></div></div>

J&K10910

I agree with Maslow.

I also think it's impossible to not be "poor" if you don't have tangible resources in our society.  As in:  you could have all the love, hope, whatever you want, but if you don't have the cash, our society considers you poor no matter what and there's just no getting around it.

Ali092011

I came across this link (clicky) on a different message board years ago and I've saved it ever since. It really hit home for me because I had so many friends constantly referring to themselves as "poor college students" and saying they "had to" live on Ramen and it pissed me off.

I've had to make choices before like whether to get the car fixed or the broken window, but I can't say I've ever gone hungry or had no shelter/clothes.

zizibet

This blog post  http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/
was written by a man who gr.ew up in poverty, to the point of occasionally being homeless. It's worth reading.

Ali092011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_so-anyway?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:acc06059-4a31-46da-939f-12b53acc20ddPost:a7218295-351b-4a27-b3e0-add721d2b8a6">Re: So anyway...</a>:
[QUOTE]This blog post  <a href="http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/" rel="nofollow">http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/</a> was written by a man who gr.ew up in poverty, to the point of occasionally being homeless. It's worth reading.
Posted by zizibet[/QUOTE]

That's what I posted above. :) Glad others were as affected by it as I was. It actually brings tears to my eyes every time I read it.

jennylee813

I would have to agree. Without the most basic needs being met first, the others wouldn't matter as much. Survival is the most primitive instinct, the need for love and security would follow.

But I do love the idea of incorporating both.

Stage - I studied Bloom too. Interesting stuff!