Class Matters

"...never be condescending but make real friends with the poor."   Romans 12:15  

The poor don't need our pity, but our respect & friendship. Respect and friendship involve seeking first to understand. These insights from the workshop, Class Matters, were illuminating to me and expanding my understanding.

• When middle class people think of food, they ask, "will it be good?" When people in poverty think of food, they ask, "will there be enough?"
• People in the middle class take hygiene for granted. Yet we pay a great deal for cleanliness: water, a place to have privacy, all the items needed to clean our clothes and our bodies. People in chronic poverty often do not have access to those items we deem essential.
• Morality is abstract. Survival is concrete. Chronic poverty is about survival.
• The role of men in poverty: lover & fighter. Not provider. The role of women in poverty: martyr & rescuer.
• People in the middle class look to achievement as a measure of success or happiness. People in chronic poverty look to relationships instead.

Which one of these stood out for you?

Thanks to Talbot David for the sharing!

Comments

[Cody]

...that people in poverty look to relationships for happiness. Intriguing.

It would seem our job as mission minded people would be easy. A no brainer almost.

The things that differentiate those in the middle class from those in poverty are the same things that hinder the middle class from building a relationship with those in poverty.

[D.Lake]

Hey Rob! The relationships thing ... I agree with Cody - wouldn't have guessed that.

[Talbot Davis]

Thanks for the props, Rob. My post from today continues the discussion with a look at the role of vocabulary as a form of social & spiritual capital.
Talbot Davis

[Rosie]

...The role of women in poverty: martyr & rescuer... I know too many of these women. I grew up with them and was them. You cease to value yourself and value only the lives that you can rescue from the fate you seem to have resigned yourself to.