Poor in America

I can fake being middle class. I've a home on a lake after all. Never mind that my dad bought land back in the day and gave me a heck of a break when I bought it from him. Sure I can spend money on things like boats -old old boats. It helps that so many of my other expenses have been cut to the bone. There are people who spend more on fancy coffees than I spend on energy for my home.

Part of my low cost of living is that I can do so much for myself. My pension might be small, but it gives me the freedom to use my time on money saving activities.

The rich know how to pass on wealth to their children. When my dad passed he had next to nothing. His big ownership item was an old trailer in a retirement park. My step mom got that and I'm glad she did as I don't want' it. His car was financed and dad had very little savings. Actually, I'm relieved that it didn't cost as much as I'd feared to bury him. A good part of the cost was covered by donations from friends and relatives. All I took home from Florida was a small welding machine and a rifle. My mom's medical expenses bankrupted him years earlier.

In today's America money is free speech. Corporations are people. Poor people are useless eaters. The stress most people have to deal with: crappy jobs, poor food, and dismal medical care is doing us in. That's what the collapse looks like -a disappearing middle class and a sharp divide between rich and poor.

The system is rigged so it's our best interest to live in the cracks like crabgrass popping through sidewalks. We've got to fly beneath the radar. For me part of that is being able to sometimes pass as middle class. It's a disguise.

We are raised from a young age to think a certain way. Most schools are big indoctrination centers. As a kid I couldn't see much difference from prison. Good thing I figured out that learning and school can be separate activities. Our parents were brain washed and they passed that down to us. Some were more brainwashed than others.

For a while it wasn't too bad as myth had some relationship to reality. The disconnect from what we are told and what we see is getting too big to ignore. There's a war on against poor people and the super wealthy have all the tanks. That doesn't mean we can't resist, but you can't fight them head on. Think like irregular troops hiding in the mountains. It's important that we don't live the constrained and boxed in lives they want to squeeze us into. Find your freedom. The first step is realizing it's not your fault, but you can save yourself.

-Sixbears