Breaks my heart.

Please forgive my lack of sympathy.

 

Poor baby. Let's see. . .I do all my dishes by hand, live in a one-bathroom house, don't have cable TV, haven't had a "vacation" in several years, and here's the bad one. . .I'm driving a 12 year old car. Boo hoo!

The "woe is me" mentality of the rich is just amazing, isn't it?

 

What a heartless bunch you are! :laugh:

 

I can understand that to a point. Some people were raised with money and that's what they know. They have no concept of what most of us on this board would consider normal.

Also consider it from a non-Christian perspective coming from someone raised with money. How does that type of person think of success? Money. It's what gives them a sense of accomplishment, self-worth, pride, and what life is about.

It's a bad combination from a heart standpoint. Take away the money and what is left? Their social standing is based on what they have.

So away the lifestyle they know and what do they have?

Nothing.

I get that.

For those of us who ever lived as atheists, we all had something that was more important than God, and it was what we lived for. If it wasn't money, it was our rep, or what did good for other people. Maybe it was drugs, maybe it was alcohol, maybe it a certain group of friends. Maybe it was family.

Our greatest fear was losing whatever it was we depended on to satisfy our souls.

So while it might be kind of funny at first glance, it's really just kinda sad. They really feel that way. When you live a life where washing dishes by hand is one of your greatest sources of feeling worthless, what kind of life is that?

It's definitely not one I envy. Never really have, although I did find that getting a dishwasher was kinda neat, even though I still enjoy hand-washing them. LOL

Oddly enough, he has all that money and no dishwasher. I have a much lower income and probably make less a year than he spends on sending his kids to private school, but that doesn't mean you can't have a dishwasher. I don't get why he can afford a vacation home and not a dishwasher, unless he thinks they have to be made of solid gold or something. Weird.

 

yeah, I'm thinking if he wanted a dishwasher or a bigger house he could quit paying $32,000 a year for his kid to go to private school. :/ ya know? And honestly, washing dishes period is a fact of life. If that makes them feel like less of a person, then they are in sad serious psycological shape.

Stuff like this is what a budget is for. Stuff like this is what common sense is for. Sadly our sense of entitlement in this country blinds us to "real life".

So says the one who homeschools (cheaper and I have control) and JUST BOUGHT A DISHWASHER!

 

He has two dishwashers (my dad always said that kids were dishwashers). :laugh:

 

This article brought back to mind something I was thinking about the other day.

People in today's society who don't realize what it really means to count our blessings. The thought that day centered around a thermostat on the wall for heating and air conditioning.

I'm truly blessed to be able to push a couple of buttons to change the comfort level in our home. You see, as an oldtimer, I spent my childhood in a farm house without the benefit of "modern conveniences". Water was drawn a bucket at a time from the well. Bathroom was out back. Heat was provided by sweat equity needed to fire up a wood heater. Air conditioning, in summer, meant opening windows and doors, while hoping for a breeze.

It's a blessing to flip a switch to turn on a light. You see, I remember when REA brought electric power lines to our farm and those around us. We ate supper by lamp light after Mama cooked it on a wood cookstove.

It's a blessing to open the refrigerator and pull out a cold pitcher of tea. You see, we had an ice box. Had to go to town and buy a 25 lb block of ice to get a glass of iced tea in summer.

The list of blessings can go on for a while. Store bought ice cream. Microwave ovens. High speed Internet access. Turning a key to start a car. etc. & etc.

And these folks feel deprived - ie not blessed - because they don't have a dishwasher?

That wasn't said to be sarcastic. It's sad that so many people today don't realize how truly blessed we are with material things - comforts - in our lives today. Thus, many don't appreciate non material blessings that range from watching a beautiful sunrise when God's creation is on display in full glory, to:

His promise held in a rainbow

the quiet whisper of the Holy Spirt during times of prayer and reflection

And, Oh, so much more...........................

 

I agree Salty that this country has a skewed sense of what it means to be poor. But also, there is a difference between poor and destitute!

The man in the OP isn't going to be homeless or hungry because he can't afford a dishwasher. Eventually he'll figure out what his priorities are and he'll find cheaper housing or cheaper school environments. We likely don't have to worry about him going hungry.

The person in your example, if they can't afford a second coat, are we sure they can afford food? Can they ever hope to aspire to cable tv? That person is likely living on the edge with no room to manuveur. TV and a second coat might be luxuries, but it might just be indicative of a person living right on the edge of poverty.

And there is a huge quality of life gap between the two examples.

 

Somewhat related:

A couple of years ago I was watching the news and a lady was shown weeping and wailing (yes wailing). "I'll starve, I'll starve... ".

New and recent rules and regulations had been inacted and she had had her food stamp allowance reduced.

However, she looked morbidly obese with an abundance of body fat.

As the old cliche goes "I didn't know whether to laugh or cry" where a situation of going from deprived to destutute in America meant a possible improvement in one's health.

HankD

 

I would like to take a moment to recognize that every poster in this thread is in agreement with billwald. Never thought I would see the day!

 

In the infamous words of the infamous unnamed comedienne:

"It's possible!".

HankD