On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

A brutal and unfair characteristic of recessions is that the pain is very unevenly distributed. I've lived through several severe recessions here in the Uk and myself and my family were fine because we had comfortable jobs and incomes. Our house prices didn't appreciate as much and our wages were stagnant for a while, but we were fine. The pain falls on people who lose their incomes, lose their investments and come out of college with no jobs to chase.

I'm in no way diminishing the real hardship that these events cause, it sucks.

That fear feels similar to PTSD - we experienced something we never want us or anyone else to experience.

A lot of people don’t really understand how much space and luxuries we actually have around us. The trick is that in that modest house everything works, nothing leaks. The car starts and is safe and comfortable enough. If you take these for granted, it’s no big deal. But if you understand that this is in and of itself better than many places, boy is it satisfying when you have it. It is also terrifying that you may lose it again.

The knowledge I feel makes for the better life. The fear unfortunately poisoned it for me for a long time, but I think I’m almost past it. Hope you are as well!

I also remember being the kid who didn’t buy Nikes or the natural rubber soles to play sports on parquet, so had to do with other sports that didn’t have that requirement.

I also remember the PE teacher telling me I could not just wear short pants, I needed to get sports shorts...

I love your story. There's also a ton of people who will delight in cherry-picking your story, as justification for not expanding the social safety net. "throwaway-0987 did it, and you can too! You just need to stop being so lazy"

A few factors to consider:

- You had an aunt you could live with

- As a youth, you were wise enough to go to trade school and college

- As a youth, you were wise/careful enough to not have babies. Furthering your education would be far tougher when you have kids to take care of

- You had access to government programs such as Pell Grants, which many people would deride as being "government handouts"

- As a youth, you were wise enough to avoid crimes that would disqualify you from educational/employment opportunities in your adult life

Stories like yours are wonderful in inspiring people to make something of themselves. But it doesn't change the fact that we as a society should do more to help people who are caught in a poverty trap, especially because of poor decisions made when they were teenagers. Just because someone ran a 4-minute-mile doesn't mean it's reasonable to expect everyone to do so.

> Anyway, people think I'm 'privileged' now because I earn a lot of money, but they have no idea that I used to sleep on the floor and eat in soup lines.

As always in such discussions, privilege is on a spectrum and has many dimensions. To give an obvious example, even as a youth, you were privileged to be an American citizen, with all the rights, assistance and opportunities it entails. If you were born in the same circumstances in Mexico or Congo, you would find yourself facing a far different outcome.

The 4Runner starts its life in the hands of someone who can afford whatever maintenance is needs, whenever it needs it.

The Grand Caravan starts its life in the hands of someone who needs the cheapest minivan and can barely afford it let alone afford following the maintenance schedule in the manual.

The 4Runner will haul two kids and occasionally a youth soccer team.

The Grand Caravan will haul five kids and occasionally 1800lb of paver bricks.

The 4Runner will be towed behind a motorhome.

The Grand Caravan will try and tow a motorhome.