Ron Johnson wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 03/05/07 04:29, Mitja Podreka wrote:Ron Johnson wrote:Or... they could get off their butts, get an education and improve their own lives.Saying that poor people are poor because they are lazy is like saying that rich people are rich because they are hard working. Like in every situation involving humans, this statement is true for some and false for some. The majority of people is somewhere in between.A hard-working poor person who's improving his/her education will stay poor for one reason: self-imposed limitations. Afraid to leave the neighborhood, etc.Regards, Mitja-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFF7EEqS9HxQb37XmcRAlqYAJ4yq8ea++/p5C1WXVb8yFaoaCyReQCeL7Fz rUFKOaA5f0ET/1c1vae//0Y= =FQOq -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Now, this is something I always thought, until I experienced poverty myself. Once a person reaches a certain level of poverty mixed with other conditions it's extremely hard to break free of it simply because you don't have the resources 90% of Americans take for granted. I've worked my butt off for 5 years trying to change careers because of a physical disability. However, I'm in my mid 50's, with a disability that limits my ability to stand or walk pretty severely, and all my experience is in what is considered to be blue collar work. It was highly skilled blue collar, but blue collar none the less. So, I end up competing with people 20 and 30 years younger than I am for entry level jobs and very few employers will hire people my age that have a disability. I've interviewed a lot of times, and been a finalist many times, but some one younger, or with more experience has beaten me out of the job every time. There is a major "grey ceiling" out there. There is also a huge amount of discrimination against anyone with a handicap. In the area where I live the overall unemployment rate is around 5.5%. For blacks it's about 9%. For the Indians it's about 16%. For those with disabilities who are still looking for a job and haven't just given up hope of ever finding a job the unemployment rate is 80%. I had never had a problem finding a job whenever I looked for one. I've never gone jobless for more than a couple of months in my life, until I developed a physical disability that is. Now I've job hunted for more than 3 years and cannot find a job. So, don't say all poor people are poor because they are lazy or limiting themselves. It's simply not true.