Waging A Living (connections)

The film made me re-analyze my life and value the luck I’ve actually had to this point. In spite of becoming a mother at a very young age, I have been able to provide for my little girl while working two jobs and going to school full time. However it also made me realize how underpaid I actually am and how just to make ends meet I have to work two jobs in order to provide for my child and myself.

The film is obviously extremely sad, the men and women in the documentary are all obviously hard working, good people that are suffering from a bad case of bad luck. The story of Jean Reynolds was the one that touched me the most because I am also a CNA with a pay similar to hers and many times I have thought of possibly quitting one job but I know I could not afford what I have now with the pay of just one job (Thankfully I also work at AAA). Her oldest daughter Bridget, has thyroid cancer, something that can be treated however her physician told her this Christmas would be her last, “18,000 Americans die due to lack of funds to pay for healthcare”, isn’t that statistic mind boggling? Jeans 3% raise isn’t keeping up with inflations she clearly states. She is the primary care giver to her three children, then tacks on her two grandchildren whose fathers (her children’s and her grandchildren’s) refuse to help with the finances because it is not their responsibility.

Mary the waitress’ story was extremely sad to watch, I literally felt I was watching her life crumbling down. Her children were becoming resentful and violent because she was never home, she was always at work yet still didn’t have enough money to make ends meet and pay her necessary bills. This is following a divorce, which is something we have talked a little about in class in out random rants. Women are always left with the short end of the stick; they are left with bills after bills to pay for and the children to take care of. After a divorce a mans income is expected to increase 10%, while a woman’s decreases 27%, does this even seem fair? But as unfair as it is, it is something we know to be true. Mary’s story starts of during the holidays, a depressing time of year for a parent that is struggling financially to get through because of the media’s portrayal of what Christmas is all about- The gifts for the children! After the holidays she believed she is going to lose the house, the internet services, the car basically everything. She begins relying on Credit Cards, which leaves her fifteen thousand dollars in debt. I though of the lecture video we watched a while ago, I cant remember the name of the lecturer (I’m Sorry!) but he talks about this exact problem. Credit cards are not meant to help you in your financial struggle if anything it only deepens your debt!

The other two stories about Barbara, the student taking care of her children struggling to continue school and work, and Jerry the security guard living in a small room, sharing a bathroom were equally sad and depressing. The fact that Barbara had to go down to a part time employee so the federal and governmental help she was receiving wasn’t completely taken away seemed crazy to me. How was she expected to take care of her kids on the income of just herself? Somehow the state thinks that just because she was making a little more she didn’t need their help any longer.

This entire film brought to light Kozol’s Amazing Grace article where the main idea is that people in poverty aren’t living in poverty because they are not hard workers, or they’re ignorant, it is because they are suffering from a bad case of bad luck and the American system is working completely against them instead of “helping” them get out of poverty as they should. 

Quotes "Meida Magic"

“Unnoticed are four million poor people in the nation, a number that equals the entire population of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New York combined.” Wow I don’t know about anyone else but this quote here grasped my full attention! I knew poverty rates were high, but I had no idea poverty rates were THIS high, I guess I too was a victim of “Media Magic”. After reading the text entirely I took a few minutes to look back and think about why I never imagined poverty being so high, then it dawned on me when I think of poverty, I think of homeless people, dirty, minorities and drug addicts/alcoholics which of course are in that predicament because they rather have the drugs and the alcohol instead of working to provide themselves with food, a roof over their heads and a better life. I feel terrible now! Mantosis’ article was a huge eye opener to me. All of what he says in his essay really makes sense to me. He argues that the poor population is stigmatized. The media portrays the poor to be there horrible people that don’t even deserve out pity because they have created their predicament all on their own. The media doesn’t tell us that the majority of the race that accounts for the poor population is actually white, not minorities as we see or hear about whenever there are talk about the poor.

“But poverty in the United States is systemic. It is a direct result of economic and political policies that deprive people of jobs, adequate wages, or legitimate support. It is neither natural nor inevitable: there is enough wealth in our nation to eliminate poverty if we chose to redistribute existing wealth or income.” This quote answered my question as to why poverty is an issue in a country where there is so much government/federal help. The media paints the picture that if you’re poor it is your own fault, you did this to yourself, there is no one to blame but yourself which in my opinion is mentally and emotionally damaging to hear when you are in that situation. This quote also brought into mind the reading Oxfam Media Briefing where it is explained how extreme wealth and extreme poverty hurts us all, even the middle class people. There is so much wealth in this country yet the poverty levels are so high, there has to be something wrong here!

The wealthy are us, “Its message: the concerns of the wealthy are the concerns of us all.” I don’t know about most people but I, as a working class person really do not care about the stock market and the weather at ski resorts or dresses that are $2,000, I cant afford any of that! Actually, part of the reason some of the material covered in this class is a little difficult to comprehend is because I have never paid attention to any of the stock market information or anything that is categorized as upper class/wealthy because I haven’t had the time to. Since I was sixteen I have been working, most of the time two jobs and have been enrolled in school full-time and the issue of classism has never been discussed in any of my classes or my jobs. I have never focused on the economics of anything.