” You see my old man’s got a problem
He live with the bottle that’s the way it is
He says his body’s too old for working
I say his body’s too young to look like his.” – Tracy Chapman from Fast Car
” Those who deserve the best in life
And know what money’s worth
And those whose sole misfortune
Was having mountains o’ nothing at birth.” -Tracy Chapman from Mountains O’ Things
I am fascinated by Tracy Chapman’s lyrics. They speak to so much. One great issue I have with our musical tastes as a collective is her song Give Me One Reason will likely always be remembered as her best. While it is a catchy tune, it is low on her lyrical offerings in terms of power and depth. I’m not trying to knock her at all as it is still far better than the majority of songs out there. But the two listed above are so real.
I work in a community where money is in VERY short supply. Churches and liquor stores are on virtually every corner. Those uninterested in solving the problem talk of abstinence. As if those in pain could just not drink or pray harder to get out of the hell they live in. Those of us grounded in reality know that won’t work. Who the hell wants to feel pain when its all they know. Their only hope is the love of each other and the very slight possibility that they will catch a break that gets them out. Their kids can get straight “A’s” but considering the school system they will get steamrolled if they try to get to college. A lot of times the only hope for their kids is bashing their skulls in on the football field or being the best (in a VERY competitive field) at putting a ball through an iron hoop. It is like a modern day gladiator battle or the Hunger Games in that we expect these kids to compete until the winner is decided. The winner can look forward to a potentially profitable exploitation of their skills learned through survival in childhood while the loser(s) are condemned to a life of piece work, hard labor, low wages, addiction, and suffering.
Centreville is the poorest community in the United States.
Bootstraps can only be pulled upon when one owns boots. On the outside chance one of these people owns boots, I would wager they are urethane and not leather. The bootstraps will likely break if pulled too hard. The bootstrap argument is the most tone-deaf one I know of when it comes to intra-national arguments about poverty. We apply band-aids galore but at the end of the day what really matters is that we are not going to fix this a piece at a time. And with the non-skilled jobs moving away or becoming patently minimum-wage, there is not a lot of hope. Raising the minimum wage may help, but it won’t fix this. It will provide better options for subsistence but it won’t fix education or pay for real healthcare, dental care, or eye care.
It doesn’t help when everything seems to be working to keep these folks in the poverty they know too well. In some cases simply working to trap them in the community.
Why do we want to keep people in poverty? Like seriously, what the fuck kind of monster does that? In my daily work I feel like I am making some sort of difference but it is like throwing a thimble of water on a forest fire while people on other sides of the fire protect their own by throwing kindling on it to burn it hotter and let it consume itself.
Just being in it and knowing all this is exhausting. It drains you and makes you feel hopeless. How arrogant is it that I even say that? I don’t have to live it. No one tries to stop me when I leave. No one pulls me over and asks me what I am doing somewhere outside of it. No one questioned my education when I applied to college the first, second, or third times. My exhaustion is a joke compared to what they face.
Empathy. I will never know what they face. The best I can do is try to make it hurt a little less. To try to keep them as safe as I can. To offer them some respite. To give them a place where they can try to have some dignity and breathe air that won’t kill them. It’s not enough. Today I will be thinking of ways I can give more. Today I will try to remember that my problems cannot compare. I will try to channel my empathy.
Much love, friends. May you find ways to empathize with those in pain and give just a little more than you thought you could. We can always do more.
Beta Testing Adulthood 