Perks of the Poor

Poor – “Lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society.” (Www.Dictionary.com)

After reading this definition the word that flies out at me the most is ‘normal’. So what do people that are ’normal’ think about someone one that is less ‘privileged’ then themselves in the same community? Are they thinking simply that they are ‘un-normal’? Or does the thought go deeper? Do they think that that person is dirty, or lazy, or naturally misfortunate? What if they have simply decided to go the inexpensive route in life and the other individual is just being one of many to place an opinion without consideration or research behind it? Somehow it comes with complete abashment from your fellow Americans.

Let me inform you what I’ve learned thus far in life, the inexpensive road is the one to drive down if you’re not naturally born into money or end up being a hefty butted, big lipped, blonde with a tiny waist that knows how to do her make up perfect and walk in heels like a goddess. I’ll tell you another thing; I can’t do heels so I’m already automatically out of the rat races at the Mansion.

What are the common stresses of trying to keep up in these first world countries? You have to keep up your GPA in high school in order to get into a good college. That was easy in my opinion; then again I didn’t have much of a social life in HS so that helped tremendously. Before getting into a good college, again - only if your daddy isn’t a Hilton or doctor, you’ll have to figure out funds to cover your college years if your parents could only afford the basics in life and your college savings went to pay the mortgage which wasn’t much to begin with. So then there’s grants, a multitude of scholarships, and then finally most will always have to fall into loans; which who in the heck even thinks about paying that back the first four years of college? It’s just free money then, right? Also! In order to keep half of that and keep your college years a’rolling don’t forget that GPA, which will be easy if you’re naturally brilliant, are going for a simple degree because you really don’t care about your future, or you have absolutely no social life. Ahh, the good ole days are coming, a few more days until graduation, if of coarse you didn’t get knocked or knock someone up (if you made it either way then go you!). Really though, it’s only six more months until you have to find the perfect career equivalent to the studies you went through, some of it not even pertaining to you degree of coarse, and then start paying off that $100k or so loans for the majority or more than half the rest of your known life. Plus all the stresses in-between; I won’t get into the rest of life, this kind of rolls over through out. Only 30 years later you’re now married with 2 ½ kids, a mortgage, 3 maxed credit cards, a lawn mower that works every other time you want to use it, and a hemorrhoid your doctor has prescribed about 15 different medications for.

Now don’t you dare go thinking I’m saying don’t go to college. Just be absolutely ready for it before going in, sadly the people around me weren’t much help and I’m a debt statistic now.

Back to the line, this is normal right? Follow the guidelines made by people that put themselves in power at a certain sense, break the bank, and work your whole life to build the bank back up, and then live a few more years in the sun just to be buried and give the rest away. Which is nice if you were a grandkid that stuck around in the hard years, but alas.

So the perks of being poor… For those of you in the dumps never thinking your going to get out of it. So what. For those of you with the right to drinking water, a meal when you need it, shoes on your feet, and a roof over your head even though it may be from place to place weekly; so what. You’re damn lucky to be living the life you are.

• Things cannot possibly get any worse when you’re already at the bottom and you’re sleeping in your car with a couple cans of tuna you have to split with your dog. Especially if you have a needed work ethic and you live in a first world country, be proud of that at least that there’s a chance, and since you’ve already hit your bottom, you know you can be a titan in the future hardships to come.
• When you live on a ‘poor’ budget you learn things that the wealthy simply don’t have time for. We learn to cook, clean, fix or own cars, take care of our own homes, and pay more personal attention to our own bodies with out leaving it all up to the ‘professional’ book keepers that they have following them for a buck.
• It helps you appreciate not being broke. If you have $30 extra to spend then you jumping with a click in your heels. McDonald’s is finally not an option for a fancy dinner this month. 
• Your creativity is running on the walls. While the majority of the above poverty line thinking they need everything a salesman tell them they need to have a more comfortable life, you’re in your garage building water ran engines or learning a new use for a strainer.
• A lighter work load, hey, you might as well embrace not having much of a job while the rest of the white collars live their job and don’t even think about spending time with their family.
• If you’re poor on purpose you have more of a choice in what to spend your little bit of money on. (i.e., us)
• A full blown depression could run by you wearing a siren, flashing lights, screaming your name and you wouldn’t even notice.
• Get into heaven easier? Mark 10:15 - “It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven”. My take on this is by coming from a wealthy family many people (not all of coarse) become more envious, greedy, and money becomes what real love is supposed to be to them.
• Less money means less junk, which means less we are putting on our carbon footprints. We’re the green society and we’re not even trying on purpose ;)

So pertaining to #6, you can actually be happy and be poor at the same time, you just have to ignore the falsities that the wealthy try to throw at you of who you are supposed to be and what you’re supposed to have. We have been born into a society that demands ‘things’ and the things you have along with the money you bring in makes you who you are ‘supposed’ to be. I find this whole idea false. Who you are depends on your values, the lessons you have honestly learned from your past mistakes and have applied them to your life, and the way you act towards your fellow man. Which means you don’t need stuff clogging up your life. I love a few trinkets the closest of my family has given me, but that’s it. That’s all I hold close to my heart ‘thing’ wise. So we are, in a sense, intentionally poor. We are below the poverty level, but living comfortably. We are not relying on the state or fed for anything. So shove it Dictionary.com.

You actually have a choice in what you want in life and what you don’t have to HAVE. That’s part of our philosophy at Monsters Off Grid; more can definitely be less, and if you’re into the having a soul side of things, good morals can be built on a bowl of rice and peas or Ramon noodles (eat less Ramon though, bad for your tummy). Look at Gandhi, he was poor as they can come, by choice! But with his spirituality and ideals in karma, he made a greater impression on the entire world then say a Koch brother < Dirty rich nasty *BLEEP*.

Peace, Love, and Pennies