Money

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." -Jimi Hendrix

It wasn't until quite recently that I ever really got upset about money. When I say "really" upset, I mean truely hopeless and not the petty angsts of a child who didn't get to buy as many clothes or get as nice of a car as her friends. 

Ironically enough, my new realizations and disdain for economic dynamics happened around the first time in my life that I was living above the poverty line. I was raised in a loving home by two "middle class" parents. Middle class meaning they both came from middle class family and we lived somewhat of a middle class lifestyle. However, now that I have a stable income, I'm realizing exactly how hard it is to get by and how little my family, not only survived on, but seemingly thrived. I can tell you that at most times, my wonderful parents raised my sister and I on much less than what I appear to be scraping by on currently. 


I've always been a little poor monetarily, but I'm so grateful that I was very rich in many other ways. Plus, my family had a lot of family support and education. It is the people I see in cyclical poverty with out the resources I was afforded and the hieracry's of our society that I am just now beginning to understand. I see how poverty can drive people to search after power in other ways, causing them to often reek havoc on others or themselves. Essentially, we live in a society where money, or the illusion of money, is quite often our greatest source of power. It is this search for power that often trumps the more gentle and truly humane search for more beneficial things like peace, self-actualization, love, integrity...


Politicians base most of their decisions around appealing to the masses around a number of social issues, but many Americans selfishly (or maybe self preservation) look shallowly at the bottom line- how will this affect my life. Generally the greatest way we see it affecting our lives is through our check books. Often, in a search for monetary power, the poor want more government support and the rich want the government to stop taxing them. This is a somewhat simplistic view, but it is often the truth. 


All of this has been sparked by recent news that the governor of georgia wants to cut social service jobs and stop furloughing teachers. Both education and social services have been marginalized for years, yet both make enough to live above poverty (usually.. I've heard the number of social service workers elligible for food stamps can be upsetting); however, they are jobs that are supposed to be advancing our society and improving our quality of life and they are among the most lowest paid professions. I'm glad to hear Mr. Deal wants to stop furloughing our hard working teachers, but from a slightly biased rage I am speachless that he wants to cut jobs in social services. He is appealing to the masses, while using societal biases to feed another way to set up our marginalized citizens to fail. Instead of cutting our workers, increase their wages and hire to people to improve the system. If the system is improved, then ultimately we will find better ways to improve our welfare system and break the cycle of poverty (the same poverty that is often a correlate and stressor contributing to the counterpart of social services, child welfare). 


Now the positive twist. I must admit I detoured from my blogs purpose and cried out in anger, but I promise to leave you with a positive word. For every radical and seemingly closed-minded person I've met, I've met ten that see the bigger picture and often branch outside of their personal biases to see how society can be changed and everyone can have basic human rights and a better standard of living. Additionally, for everytime I judge someone as closed-minded or selfish, I am overwhelmingly corrected by their ability to show more compassion than I'd ever feel capable. I am humbled, but hopeful after these such encounters.