Oh, my GOD! I'm 36...apparently the "autumn of my life" is fast approaching. According to this statement right here, I should abandon schooling, quit my job as a support technician, give up and go to work for WalMart. How stupid am I for not realizing this?

Ok, THERE is a statement where you and I agree, Deference. But I DON'T agree John is hopeless. I know MANY people who have retrained past age forty, and I happen to know there's a boatload of money available to pay for it.

In your summation of this story, though, you brought up a very interesting point, one that has gotten me for a long time. It is highly possible from the story you told that John COULD be helped if he could be relocated to an area where a job matching his skill set and paying more for the area could be found. But there is no money to relocate John and his family. I'm hoping that charities to the poor begin to realize this and work towards helping provide relocation expenses, because simply by helping this man move, it's possible his standard of living could be increased substantially.

As for the "cell phone, car, internet" requirements, you're right about many areas (can't say for sure for Jefferson City) on all three, but a cell phone can be had for twenty bucks plus minutes, and Internet access can be obtained at the library (the car's a little trickier, I'll grant you). Even if he needed access at home, I can tell you for certain that you can find used systems for under $100 that are still adequate for basic emailing/websurfing purposes, and dialup, while not preferable, is certainly cheap.

In my opinion, a better approach to our "broad net" treatment of poverty would be to evaluate situations like John's and decide how best to help him help himself.

...and hafta wear that ridiculous blue smock all the time too. That's a deal breaker right there for sure.

That was me but it was a couple of days ago and a couple blogs over.

So I wake up one fine day and find myself working on a farm/ranch, twenty-seven years old, the father of a two year old, and the bearer of only a high school diploma and incredibly stinking POOR.
Gotta get outta this.
So I start going to night school. Tedious! Slooooow going! Work all day (farm and ranch work –try it sometime if ya think it’s easy) school at night. I finally finally finally graduate with a lowly Associate’s Degree. Eventually after lots of false starts and setbacks (and the birth of another kid) get me a city job (I'm 33 now) working in a jail while my poor friends who still work on farms dis me for "bailing out."

I work midnight shifts, fight drunks, get various and sundry bodily fluids thrown on me, cursed, assaulted, and…and… I hang in there. I study what’s going on and listen to wise council.
I rise through the ranks.
Today I'm the administrator. I make forty thousand dollars a year (real good money for my neck of the woods, education, smarts, etc.) get three weeks of vacation, medical/dental insurance, I have zero debts. I’m also VERY frugal -I have a paid for home and two paid for cars and a Harley, a son in college (who is paying his OWN way thanks to HIS working all through high school sacking groceries and saving/investing EVERY penny). And my poor friends remain on the farm and are still whining and waiting for the government to solve all their problems.

So it can be done. If a man of my limited intelligence can succeed (at least it feels like I’ve succeeded compared to from where I’ve come from) than anyone can. The trick is to never give up and keep going. It’s those small steps that’ll get you there.

This article is shameful, so I'm gonna start my post with Draginol instead of the author.



Couldn't have put it better myself. Even I noticed you said "And this is why people like me run the world" which did not mean you, only you and no one else but you. Everyone has the power to change their lifestyle. The only people incapable of doing so are those who don't believe they can. Using handicap people as an excuse of not being able to do anything is wrong cause there are many handicap people out there who have done things most people thought they could not do. Freedom is still there if we all look hard enough. People have forgotten that the Gov't does not control us, it is we who control the Gov't.

I agree with not liking the idea of having to work to pay the way for those who work less than I do because in their minds they can't do more. I have been struggling for many years now, but I don't give up the hope that I will eventually get out of the hole and enjoy the finer things in life. Because I believe I can do more that what I am doing now, my only problem is that I could use some guidance. But I go on everyday, working 14 hours a day for $10 and $11 an hour. But I will not stop there. Soon I will find my chance to move up and earn more while showing how good I am at what I do.






If they actually worked hard I would actually get my food fast (hence the name fast food) and I would get much better service than I do in 85% of the fast food places I eat. I should know, I worked in a KFC for 2 years. I was the best cook the place had ever had, I was the only Supervisor that cooked on Fridays and/or Saturdays cause no one could handle those days like I could. With hardly any left overs at the end of the day and no waiting by the customers for food that ran out.





Share the wealth buddy. Most of us here have that same expression plus this one:

True. People don't appreciate hard work when they see it. That's why I often end up with bad service wherever I go