Whenever I open up about some of the hard times I've been through (usually trying to motivate or encourage a freelancer who is experiencing a rough patch) someb

Whenever I open up about some of the hard times I've been through (usually trying to motivate or encourage a freelancer who is experiencing a rough patch) somebody inevitably pipes up claiming I don't _really_ know what it's like to be poor, one time somebody told me "You don't know anything, you only have the backs of your eyelids to go off of". I'm not even sure what that means, but it can be frustrating for those of us who HAVE been to rock bottom and found a way up again to try to show the ropes to others if every time you get questioned, disbelieved, and even shouted down because somewhere at this moment there's somebody poorer than you, or a spectator doesn't truly think you've experienced hardship. When somebody says they've been through hard times and is trying to help another person out - that's NOT the time to interrogate them and try to disprove them, it's the time to focus on the person presently in need, and to find ways to help them get back on their feet or at least get their wits back. Please don't be a 'poverty skeptic', it's a little hurtful and a lot unhelpful.