Being Poor

Because Esperanza is specifically targeting Hispanic and/or low socioeconomic learners, I felt it would be helpful to think about the following:

Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.
Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.
Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.
Being poor is people surprised to discover that you are not actually stupid.
Being poor is a six-hour wait in the emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap.
Being poor is never buying anything that someone else hasn't bought first.

Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.
Being poor people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.
Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.
Being poor is seeing how few few options you have.
Being poor is running in place.
Being poor is people wondering why you didn't leave.

Excerpted from "Being Poor" by John Scalzi
Book The Rich and the Rest of Us by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West--p.69