“Poverty is a lot like childbirth –you know it’s going to hurt before it happens, but you’ll never know how much until you experience it.”     – JK Rowling, author

If you know the frightful sound of your last coins rubbing together… then we’re on the same page.  And it’s tough to say which is more painful – not having the basics for civilized living, or having to ask someone, especially family, for some of theirs.  Losing everything at once or stuck struggling to fight the bleakness of poverty is humility in the making …and stinks of pride and judgment.  Pride of the suffering.  Judgment of those who label, shun and ridicule the population of have-nots.  Ironically, though, those who survive and rise up from the trenches are both blessed and truly aware.  Alas, it is the “privileged”who are cursed with the naivety of just how close they themselves might be to the bottom rung.  Lesson at hand, folks?  Take the high road whatever you bank account reads.  And remember to always count your blessing while counting your pennies.

Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman

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