In one of the books read this past week, it talked a little about “truly poor” versus “allegedly poor.”  I didn’t know what this meant and I guess I don’t know exactly what makes someone truly poor.  Where does one draw the line between allegedly poor and truly poor?  After the in-class activity of trying to create a budget under about $1,485, I saw how difficult it really is to choose what you want to use your money for and how you can go about saving it.  My group was not able to save any of our money.  Growing up very privileged it was hard to think of the most efficient ways to live our “poor” lives month to month.

I thought that this budget was insane to work with.  I would consider it truly poor but maybe its not.  There are people with even less.  I just cannot imagine the time it takes to be poor.  There is so much thought and effort put into it that I had no clue about.

I understand better that people can lose a lot (if not all) hope in themselves given the circumstances.  I would be tired of all that effort everyday, too.  As discussed in class, I think that hope is a big thing to have.  Without hope they may never see a glimpse of light.  It’s sad to think that they don’t want to see that light.  However, I do not blame the poor for not wanting to see the light, especially after learning about the Hurricane Katrina event.  The fact that the rescue team didn’t bother to check every nook and cranny makes me sick.  I am beginning to think that maybe society needs to show hope.

I wonder what could happen if society stopped separating being poor into two categories; if they recognized that poor is just poor; that we show that there is hope for them, they would have more hope in themselves.  Maybe even strive to get out of poverty and create an upwards spiral, instead of downwards one.