Drought Part I

Living in a drought changes you.  Living in plenty changes you too, but droughts are better changers.  I have a friend whose parents have money and was raised with everything.  The reasons why he was raised with everything are more complex than because his parents had money, but he did and he treated his parents as a safety net.  When he could not find the job that he wanted, he would not settle for a lesser job, he would wait for one that he deserved, in his mind.  Living in Canada, one is wealthy.  But there are people who are more wealthy in my society than others.  As much as I like to think that I lived in poverty in Canada, I know that I do not know what poverty is in the world from first hand experience.  I like to think I do, but I don't.

Poverty, such that it is in Canada, is not something that a lot of people understand.  In Canada, most people don't experience poverty.  In Canada we have a social system which prevents deep poverty and just gives us mild poverty.  Under that system your rent is paid and your food is paid for and nothing else.  You can qualify for this assistance if you have no other money.  You can't own anything either, if you have a house, you have to sell it first and be renting.  I am not sure if you can own a car either, the system might allow that.  My point is you have to not have anything.  If you live in a posh apartment, they tell you that you are living beyond your means.  They interview you in your residence to look at your surroundings.  

What they pay you is enough to cover your rent and enough to buy food.  Not a lot of food and only enough food to survive if you hunt for deals when you shop.    The food allowance is really not that it is more like an everything else allowance.  You want transit tokens? That comes out of the food budget.  You need a phone?  That also comes out of the food budget.  Everything that you need comes out of the food budget.  Luckily, in Canada, we have a charity called the Food Bank.  That is where people redistribute food to people who cannot afford it.  Most poor people look at that organization as a last resort destination.  Being poor is a social stigma, not showing your personal poverty is a point of pride.  Going to the food bank removes that last presence.  I didn't.  I also did not have children.  I also went hungry sometimes.

I was once out with friends, role playing at someone's house.  I had already used one of my precious transit tokens to get there and I had to use one getting back, so this outing was an extravagance.  The guys I were with we're hungry so they ordered from a Chinese restaurant for delivery.  I did not bring any money, I did not have any to bring.  They ate and I said I was not hungry.  They offered me some of their food and I took it.  Chicken Balls.  That was back when I was only in year four of my vegetarianism.  People who know me well know the pains I go to to avoid meat.  

What I am saying is that the poverty, such that it was in wealthy Canada, changed me.  I am not one to turn down an offered job, I am not one to wait for that one job that I wanted when a lesser job is currently available.  I will go for it.  In my near future I will be lacking a job and when one comes around I will go for it part time or full time, two part time jobs or three, I will work if there is a job available.  I will work for peanuts if that is what I have to do.  I have the qualifications to work well above minimum wage, but I will not let that get in my way.  It probably be better if I waited a bit, but I won't, because if you have never been poor, you won't understand.