Understanding Why the Poor STAY Poor

Saturday, we had a meeting at the paper office (I currently work as a "media distribution specialist", or, "paper carrier" for the non-PC among you). We were discussing updates in our pay rates. One of the main changes is that the paper plans to eliminate the gas adjustment that many of us rural carriers get for delivering the paper out along the county roads to the farmhouses that dot the countryside.

Now, to be frank, I NEED that gas adjustment to make any profit on two of my eight routes, which are rural. The news was not at ALL good to me, and I had to try to do something or find myself with great difficulty making ends meet.

In times past I might have stormed off and left the job entirely. I have a good work history and could find other menial work without a whole lot of difficulty. I also might have railed on about the injustice, how "the man", in this case, the paper, was trying to oppress the workers and made my little Che Guevara rant my cause celebre.

But I didn't do either. What I DID do, I believe, illustrated how my understanding of how the world works has changed and how that change stands to benefit myself and my family for generations to come.

See, I grabbed a sheet of paper and listed the number of customers on my two routes. I then calculated my daily pay rate and subtracted the gas needed to run the routes. When I was finished, the numbers spoke clearly, and they were grim. I would be making $1.80 for 70 minutes' work on one route, after gas was figured in but before other operating costs. I would be making $1.17 on the other route for 20 minute's work, again after gas but before other operating costs. To drive my point home further, I listed 7 MAJOR advertisers on the route that the paper might stand to lose if they affected the service to those customers. By 2:00 yesterday afternoon, my gas adjustment was restored.

See, I have a lot to learn, but I have learned that in order to improve your status, you need to speak the LANGUAGE of the businesspeople you serve. To them, the bottom line is vitally important, as it should be; they are paid to run a business. If you can show them how a decision can affect their bottom line positively or negatively, they can often be enticed to change their outlook.

The problem is, most of the poor aren't taught that. And that, I believe, is the chief cause of generational poverty. The poor have lived the past 100+ years awaiting the glorious socialist revolution that many believe will liberate them from the chains of poverty, and believing that the principal causes for their misfortunes are the "evil capitalists".

The problem is, the ones who have taught this to their children haven't seen their children liberated from the shackles of poverty. The children continue on in the same misguided mindset and learn to hope for a "saviour" (usually in the form of the government) to rescue them from the mire.

I don't ever expect to be abundantly rich. Frankly, it isn't one of my major life's goals. But because I have slowly begun to come to understand WHY my family has spent so much time in poverty, and WHAT I can do to change it, I believe I have a MUCH better chance of equipping my children to achieve to the fullest of their dreams.