Rich or Poor?

Years ago, Vernon was teaching a prosperity class and invited a few friends including ConiAnn and myself to attend. One take-away from that series was a simple quote from one half of a conversation, “Rich or poor, it’s nice to have money.”

That simple line has often reminded me how important attitude is. It has given me comfort and hope. It has also helped keep me stable. I’m an eternal optimist; even when things are at their worst, I know any situation can turn around. If you live long enough, you’ll see that it is true at both ends of the economic scale.

The class was held in the depths of the 1970’s recession. Ohio was hit hard like a lot of the old manufacturing centers. The war economy was winding down at the same time as the Arab oil embargo began creating a staggering rate of unemployment. Though none of us had a lot of cash, not one of us acted poor. We didn’t know how to and wouldn’t if we had.

We met at a metaphysical center far away from our home. It took all morning to get ready – packing things for our infant son, then driving across one county and into the next.  I don’t think we missed a class. A  camaraderie developed and many of us remained friends for years.

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To understand being poor you have to live it

Poverty is a specific form of being poor. Presented below are two videos from the TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin series “Why Poverty?” and …

How Can A Warm Man Understand A Cold Man

by Vac Verikaitis

Decent and the Reality of Poverty

Your Brothers’ Keepers

A Panel Discussion with Representatives from Academia and the Dispossessed

– The kid has it right. In essence, being poor is a state of mind.

The interviewer did not linger on the point when Arthur Gallant answered the question, “Are you poor?”

Galant replied,”It depends what you define as poor….Poverty is really a state of mind.”

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The road back can be tough, there’s no doubt about it.

The path is arduous and perhaps scary, with traps and challenges along the way. But for those with vision and endurance, it offers a victory like no other.

Another friend, The Alchemist, asked a couple of summers ago, “Would you have had it any other way, Jeff? To have had everything handed to you and not had to work so hard? That’s one of the reasons we are here.”

I sort of agree with him. I would have appreciated a few less extreme episodes, but yes. We’ll have one interesting set of stories to tell the universe.

– Jeffrey A. Limpert

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References:

http://ww3.tvo.org/video/183475/how-can-warm-man-understand-cold-man

 http://theagenda.tvo.org/special/agenda-steve-paikin-why-poverty

 http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/arthur-gallant/

Image Information:

From How Can A Warm Man Understand A Cold Man

By Vac Verikaitis