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How do you spend time with your family, fish, read mystery novels, or do anything other than study, work, or look for work when you're basically one step away f

by aianus 12y ago

How do you spend time with your family, fish, read mystery novels, or do anything other than study, work, or look for work when you're basically one step away from homelessness?

lutusp 12y ago
The answer is obvious -- all you have is time on your hands, and that time is easily filled reading mystery novels at the local lending library while waiting for your welfare check. > ... when you're basically one step away from homelessness? American society is so immersed in conventional signs of status that it's possible to shamelessly define people in terms of what they lack. Homeless. Jobless. Degree-less. Car-less. People who live in hotels are homeless, strictly speaking. Many New Yorkers are car-less because there's good public transport. I lived in New York City for about five years in the 1960s and it would never have occurred to me that not having a car made me a second-class person. In the U.S., the view of rich people as seen by poor people is wildly distorted -- the rich are jetting around, wrecking their exotic cars, throwing wild expensive parties. And the view of poor people as seen by rich people is wildly distorted -- the poor live in cardboard boxes, do drugs, drink cheap wine, and so forth. Both equally inaccurate. The 2008 financial crisis had a number of causes, but one of them was a federal program to get people into houses they actually couldn't afford. The mortgage meltdown was partly the result of this program that created an artificial scarcity (and price rise) of real estate and a widespread disregard of people's inability to pay their mortgages. My point? Being homeless isn't the worst thing that could happen to someone.
Spooky23 12y ago
Because you have a support network, so accumulating treasure matters less. My extended family had a pretty happy life in NYC when they all lived a few blocks from each other. Proximity, shared community through the church parish and schools all reinforced those bonds. Their friendships extended to their neighbors and some even endure today -- 20-30 years later. Today, we're all scattered and distance relationships require a lot more work for a lot less benefit.

by aianus 12y ago

How do you spend time with your family, fish, read mystery novels, or do anything other than study, work, or look for work when you're basically one step away from homelessness?

lutusp 12y ago

The answer is obvious -- all you have is time on your hands, and that time is easily filled reading mystery novels at the local lending library while waiting for your welfare check. > ... when you're basically one step away from homelessness? American society is so immersed in conventional signs of status that it's possible to shamelessly define people in terms of what they lack. Homeless. Jobless. Degree-less. Car-less. People who live in hotels are homeless, strictly speaking. Many New Yorkers are car-less because there's good public transport. I lived in New York City for about five years in the 1960s and it would never have occurred to me that not having a car made me a second-class person. In the U.S., the view of rich people as seen by poor people is wildly distorted -- the rich are jetting around, wrecking their exotic cars, throwing wild expensive parties. And the view of poor people as seen by rich people is wildly distorted -- the poor live in cardboard boxes, do drugs, drink cheap wine, and so forth. Both equally inaccurate. The 2008 financial crisis had a number of causes, but one of them was a federal program to get people into houses they actually couldn't afford. The mortgage meltdown was partly the result of this program that created an artificial scarcity (and price rise) of real estate and a widespread disregard of people's inability to pay their mortgages. My point? Being homeless isn't the worst thing that could happen to someone.

Spooky23 12y ago

Because you have a support network, so accumulating treasure matters less. My extended family had a pretty happy life in NYC when they all lived a few blocks from each other. Proximity, shared community through the church parish and schools all reinforced those bonds. Their friendships extended to their neighbors and some even endure today -- 20-30 years later. Today, we're all scattered and distance relationships require a lot more work for a lot less benefit.