Frugal living tips

[alexandra]

My sister is an attorney, now a public defender, previously an on-staff attorney for legal aid.  She reminds us constantly that there is a difference between a cash-flow problem and poverty. So many of us think "we have no money" or that we are poor.  She made me see that there is a difference between not being able to buy or have want you want and living in poverty -- especially the entrenched sort of poverty that Superior Girl described.  And there is so much of it here in our own country too.

Unfortunately we are, in many cases, a have and have-not society.  The have's have no idea the burden of being a have-not -- and so little is done to help those who are burdened rise above it.  The pay-day lenders, tax-refund advancers, predator lenders that prey on this population are scandalous -- yet so many of us want to believe that people get themselves into their own mess.  Well, it's hard not to when you're impoverished and preyed upon... or simply not educated to advance beyond your current situation.  But I am on a soap box.

Our country is not as generous with it's own as it should be! At least I don't think so...

Thriftily,
Alexandra
www.livingwithoutmoney.blogspot.com

[SecondhandSophisticate]

My sister is an attorney, now a public defender, previously an on-staff attorney for legal aid.  She reminds us constantly that there is a difference between a cash-flow problem and poverty. So many of us think "we have no money" or that we are poor.  She made me see that there is a difference between not being able to buy or have want you want and living in poverty -- especially the entrenched sort of poverty that Superior Girl described.  And there is so much of it here in our own country too.

Unfortunately we are, in many cases, a have and have-not society.  The have's have no idea the burden of being a have-not -- and so little is done to help those who are burdened rise above it.  The pay-day lenders, tax-refund advancers, predator lenders that prey on this population are scandalous -- yet so many of us want to believe that people get themselves into their own mess.  Well, it's hard not to when you're impoverished and preyed upon... or simply not educated to advance beyond your current situation.  But I am on a soap box.

Our country is not as generous with it's own as it should be! At least I don't think so...

Thriftily,
Alexandra
www.livingwithoutmoney.blogspot.com

Love your soapbox. But then, I am a former social worker...

xo,
SeSo

[Mattie]

One tiny, itty-bitty way you can do something is to loan money through Kiva (http://www.kiva.org).  The borrowers are working hard to improve their lives, and $25 is such a small amount for us wealthy Americans to loan, yet it can help out so much.  Currently I'm loaning to a Cambodian woman who wants to buy a new motorbike for her husband's bike transport company.  This will help their business, and it is part of my ultimate goal of blanketing the world with motorcycles...so it's a win-win.   

[SecondhandSophisticate]

<snip!>
DD just came back from a missions trip to W. Africa. She said that she found herself crying a lot the first several days. The overwhelming and pervasive poverty was too great to be able to wrap her mind around. Then, when she finally accepted it as fact, it bothered her that the acceptance came....

/quote]

superiorgirl, your entire post was very moving, but what has stayed on my mind for days was the above quote.  I am so touched by your DD's great understanding that she would question her acceptance of this "overwhelming and pervasive poverty". What a gift she has. As long as, I believe, our hearts can still be touched by the suffering of others, we are still truly and totally alive. And her act of helping, though it may appear small is huge. Remember what Mother Teresa said "There are not great acts. There are only small acts done with great love."

It refreshed me to keep looking at myself. Thank you. I forget alot. 

Once we become hardened to suffering we, through our insensitivity, contribute to the problem. As long as she keeps questioning her acceptance of the unacceptable--as I believe we are all capable of--humanity has a good shot at survival.

You must be very proud of her, indeed.


Peace,
SeSo