Poor me
2 Sep
There’s a lot of discussion and griping about how wellness is only for the wealthy.
That the poor are so desperate to feed their families, that they have no other choice than to buy cheap imitation grape drink and Dollar Store brand cheese doodles. That the poor don’t have the benefit of spending time in Barnes and Noble browsing through Michael Pollan books. That the poor are so tired from working two jobs that they can’t summon up the strength to do more than throw some canned franks and beans into a pot to warm.
I’d like to know how those people– those compassionate champions of the working poor — how do they explain it when middle class Americans…or even upper class americans with nannies and luxury cars …make those same choices? Because they do. I see it all the time.
I walk into a $1 million home to pick up my kid from a playdate and find him eating rainbow goldfish crackers.
I see nannies pushing overweight kids in stroller. And moms in designer shoes handing their two-year-olds mocha frappaccinos to sip on.
I’m not a cold-hearted bitch. But I don’t think eating or living well really takes much money, brains, or higher education. Clearly, if that’s all it took, we wouldn’t be seeing commercials for Abilify, alongside ones for Macy’s One Day Sale.
Hey. Come a little closer. I’m going to let you in on a little secret.
I’m not rich. I put on a good show with my nice house and leased mini-van. My kids in their hand-me-down Old Navy clothes. My mock designer hand bag from Target.
But we’re struggling. We have debt. We count our pennies.
I don’t have the money for a gym membership or a trainer or even to go to weekly yoga classes. I take books out of the library or buy them second hand on Ebay.
But don’t cry for me. And don’t think I’m complaining that my life is so hard.
But, I think that bad lifestyle choices aren’t reserved for the poor.
And it’s about time we stop having that conversation and move on. Frankly, it bores me.
Your sympathy and your outrage would be better spent WAKING UP our government. And our schools. And your neighbors.
The argument I hear is that there are much fewer healthy choices, at least convenient healthy options, at supermarkets within commutable distance in poor neighbourhoods, where people usually do not have vehicles (and also often shop at corner stores).
Jen, I’m so glad you wrote about this. It is often the first line of attack used against me by snotty family, er, people I meet when they learn we eat organically. “But it’s SO expensive! How can you afford it?” they ask, then they drive away in one of their two or three cars. And I drive happily to Whole Foods in my 2001 Pathfinder, our only car, with 123,000 miles on it.
Growing, producing and consuming shitty foods is costing our entire species their lives. It might be cheap going in but it’ll cost you an arm, leg, colon or heart on the way out.
Amen, sister. Totally agree.