Cartoon – pen & watercolour
Copyright 2008 Jean Burman
POVERTY – from the Latin pauper - 1. The state of being poor; want of the necessities of life; 2. scarcity or lack 3. inferiority
The difficulty for writers wishing to write with any degree of credibility on the topic of POVERTY… is that so few of us have truly experienced it. Not in the accepted sense of the word anyway. Sure we might have known what it was like to “do without” from time to time… but we have no real concept of true deprivation. So if a writer must “write what they know”… how then do we even begin to write about POVERTY?
I gave this quite a bit of thought before it occurred to me that… clearly… there are many ways to be impoverished.
POVERTY in the third world is a starving child… without a mother… clinging for life to an older sister who is almost too weak from hunger exhaustion and sickness to stand.
POVERTY in the first world is a privileged over indulged child with every possible material thing… who lacks the love and attention she needs to grow into a well adjusted adult and thrive emotionally.
Which is sadder I cannot say. But one thing is for certain.. both require our urgent loving attention and perhaps even… our intervention.
Iny (Irene) was a tall girl for her age. And skinny too. Early each morning she would bound out of bed… wash her face… and dress for school. Her dress was simple and home made… and she never ever wore shoes! She had eight brothers and sisters of whom she was the youngest but one. They lived in a simple house her father, a carpenter, had built… and there Ivy and George reared their brood with not much money… but love and attention in abundance.
Before school it was Iny’s job to run down to the local butcher’s shop to buy a pound of rump steak for breakfast. The butcher was a cheery old gentleman who affectionately nicknamed her “brolga” for her long legs and bounding energy.
“What will it be today Miss Rodger?” he would cheerfully ask, knowing the answer already. Iny would recite the order by heart before receiving the tightly wrapped parcel along with the one penny change. Then off she skipped to the grocery store to buy a lolly with the penny.
A pound of rump steak would be breakfast for the whole family. Sometimes her mother would miss out… especially if a friend or neighbour dropped by unexpectedly as she was serving it up.
The children all had chores. Some more than one. But a fair and equitable distribution of household duties was “divvied” up between the lot of them so that her Mother could sew for the family. Trousers for the boys… pretty dresses for the girls… even stiff starched broderie anglais hats for church. Washing day was Monday when all the clothing and bedsheets were boiled in the copper and hung out to dry… and the mattresses were aired on the fence. Tuesday was ironing day.
There was a household chore for every day of the week… and in this… Iny was not spared. Hers was the onerous task of scrubbing the bare wooden floor of the dunny which stood sentinel out in middle of the back yard. Of all the detestable jobs… this was the one most loathed of all… no doubt with good reason! (grin) However… Iny knew that if she wanted to eat, sleep and wear pretty home-made dresses… it was her lot in life to get on with the job… with a good stiff brush and a bucket of piping hot water with phenol!
Evenings were spent around the piano as friends and family gathered to sing and talk and laugh. It was a happy childhood filled with the blessings of a simple life within the loving embrace of family.
My mother often spoke of it… regaling us with stories of her enchanted childhood. She would often say… “We were poor… but I always felt rich… because I had my eight brothers and sisters!”
Blessings of the heart are so much more than money in the bank. The best that money can hope to buy is a degree of comfort. Beyond that… you can’t eat it, drink it, hug it, or take it with you in memories when you go.
In these times of financial uncertainty when all about us are wringing their hands with dire predictions of “the end of the world as we know it”… with promises of impending financial doom, starvation and ruination… it sometimes pays to look back on the lives of those who came before us to see how little they really needed… to live the life they loved.
It’s the times we think may break us… that so very often make us – JeanBurman 2008
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Great article mum!
Thank you Andrew… you are beautiful!
Well done Jean..hits the nail right on the head! I have never had “money” to speak of and any money I did acquire was worked hard for. My richness comes from my sense of freedom and adventure and my two beautiful daughters! There is no credit available for any of those..but my coffers are full!
Thanks Jools
Credit is transient and overrated anyway (grin) (((LOL)))
It’s been fun being a part of Blog Action Day again this year. I had no idea what I was going to write about… but fortunately the ideas started to flow late yesterday and I made it in with an hour and a half to spare before midnight!
Last year we blogged on the Environment… this year Poverty. There were 12,012 blogs registered to participate this year with an estimated audience of 12,866,294! It’s a terrific power for the good in a world that is sometimes sadly wanting of good things to focus on!
Thanks for looking… (and for your ongoing moral support) Jools!
During the depression we lived for a time with my grandparents. my uncle and aunt and their two kids lived on the second floor, my grandfather and grandmother and father and mother and I lived on the first. My Grandfather had a job with the park district but was paid in tax anticipation warrants which some merchants would accept discounted. My dad painted and hung wallpaper my uncle sold used cars on commission. It was a good time. I am now still pretty well fixed but I am not planning on leaving my kids a lot of money. they know that and approve.
Likewise, I was not a Rich Kid, and because my husband and I raised four children, money was not in generous supply in our home either. I was lucky that I did not have to work outside our home, though I did what I could–took in sewing, taught art classes, etc., to bring in extra cash without having to pay for child care. I made most of our children’s clothes, and knitted their sweaters. Our children all had chores to do, and they envied the neighbor kids who did not, but they have grown to be fine, responsible adults, whom I am proud to know. They have an understanding of the value of working for a dollar, and value of family.
Looking back, I know that our wealth has been greater than that of the people I might have envied back then. Life has been, and continues to be Good!
Hi Roger. Yes… anyone who has lived through the great depression seems to have a very different take on life that’s for sure. I suppose we humans (by nature) tend to look back with rose coloured glasses and only remember the good times (thank heavens for that! LOL) But it must have been very hard at the time. I wonder if we can be so strong this time around… if it comes to that? I hope so. I hope it brings out the best in us and makes us appreciate the simple things. Life has become way too complicated in many ways.
Thanks for weighing in here Roger… it’s always great to hear from you
What a great story Feathers… and such a good outcome! It’s all we need as parents I think… to know that we have raised our kids to be good and decent human beings with a good set of values. I was a little soft on my lot I think (they vehemently oppose this notion of course LOL) but they are good people… and thank me everyday for being there for them as a full time Mum. It wasn’t easy. In fact I think parenting without the affirmation (and extra income) of paid employment is a very hard row to hoe. But I’m glad I was able to do it… and lucky too I guess that I had the choice.
(Thanks for stopping by to comment Anita… it’s great to see you!)
My kids turned out great! My daughter lives next door with her husband and my grandkids. My son and his wife live in pittsburgh. She is an Aussie and an anesthesiologist. He is a senior software person at carnegie-Mellon. My daughter is the clinical pharmacist at the University cancer clinic. The fall colors are very good here in Michigan-much better than the economy.lol
You have no worries there then Roger! All sound as though they have their feet well and truly on the ground and doing very well.
Beautiful article, Jean. Gee, I keep missing Blog Action Day. How does one find out about it? In Italian ‘poor’ is povero (which besides being an adjective is a noun, meaning poor person), and “poverty” is poverta’.
Thanks John
You can find out more about Blog Action Day at their website http://site.blogactionday.org/about/ or by clicking on the banner (top right above my archives) or the banner at the bottom of the article.
Blog Action Day is an amazing phenomenon. This is the second year and to date it has been a great success. The generated interest brings traffic to all registered websites and channels the focus toward a specific targeted topic. That’s a lot of good karma!
A quote for you Jean….” Each good, pure thought is a solid power for our daily use” Sri Chinmoy
That’s a good positive quote Jools… thanks!
How’s the unpacking going?
Lol…I’m unpacked Jean!! 3 weeks I have been here now, and its almost as if I had never left here. I have been catching up with so many wonderful friends and visiting my favourite beaches and introducing Claire to everyone (Emi is still down south finishing what she has to do and we are missing her!). I have completed one painting and begun another..I lurve my new studio and I have made many new friends and contacts…life is good! I think I am experiencing contentment.
Jools… your energy and enthusiasm is boundless!
Thanks Jean! I would not be able to do it all though if it were not for my midday snoozes (grin)! or at least a rest on the couch several times a day…all I need is 20 mins, and my leg feels better and I am raring to go again! Have been taking magnesium…and the difference is amazing, I still have pain but nowhere near as intense. I am a much happier girlie without the pain!
That’s terrific Jools. If you’re taking the Musclease brand even better. It contains a good dose of Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6) as well… which soothes the nerves and will help you to sleep like a baby! Good stuff.
Jean, You are a woman beyond her years in wisdom! Your angle on life is always so refreshing in this world of forgotten values. I love to hear stories of the past from those who’s lives were forced to accept challenges of financial hardship. It’s unsettling though, to think that in order to obtain those cherished memories one is required to live a life of paucity. Is it the deprivation of material goods that begets the atmosphere of nurture and love or is it the creative spirit that triggers a fraternal sense that works to pull us through the tough times? I’ve always lived a comfortable and privelleged life but I’ve also acquired cherished memories that will remain with me forever. I suppose this could very well change in the near future with foreboding economic trauma forecast on the horizon. I would like to think though that I am equipped, (as were my ancestors during unsettling times) to cope with the emotional challenges ahead.
I have become somewhat of a pest of late in that I have a tendency to harrass my elderly friends into recording their memoirs. They have SO many amazing stories to share that not only document history but gives history another dimension( or a personality that is lost to history books). I think it a tragic loss that not more is done to help the elderly record their lives…
Enough ranting! Keep up the great work Jean!
Hi Mary!! (sorry Jean…just had to jump in here!) What you are saying has struck a chord with me!! It is from the generations past that we should learn…I still recall advice that was given to me from my Grandparents and I also heed what my older friends have got to share. I have listened to stories from days gone by, that actually do reflect many things that are happening now. It is not so much advice really, it is ways of dealing with “hardship” and it is that hardship that we will learn from. It is finding another way that helps anyone (you don’t keep trudging up a hill that is too steep to climb..you find a way around it!). Because many people have done it before, we should listen to them and their ideas may shed some light. If we can put material possessions a bit further down the list of priorities and bump community spirit and creative necessity up the list, our lives will have more meaning and we hopefully will not be craving to “own” more and more…it will not be important anymore. What is contentment – is it working your guts out to have something you will never “own”, or is it finding a place where you feel you have what you need. I guess it is easy for me to say these things as I have no debt to speak of, I also have no surplus cash either!! (lol), but what I do have is what I need.
Thanks Mary… and Jools… so many great thoughts to ponder here! Btw Mary…it’s so great to see you here again… you have been very much missed!
Mary… yeah… I guess we don’t necessarily have to have experienced terrible hardship in order to recognise and appreciate the life struggles that abound. And I guess hardship is relative anyway. Whichever way we look at it… most of us have our cross to bear in one way or another. Those who are comfortably off aren’t automatically happy… and paradoxically some of the happiest most contented people we might meet are sometimes those who are wondering where their next meal will be coming from. So… I guess it’s all in the attitude. The way we decide to experience and live our life. Abject poverty of course is a whole different matter. Where bare essentials are missing to the point where life can barely be sustained. I have great empathy for those who cannot pull themselves up from that terrible place.
Re: the keeping of memoirs. Just a week before she died… my mother sat propped up in her bed with the photographs of a lifetime scattered all about her. She was really too ill to be attempting it… but the desire to record her stories and have her experience of life “count for something” was still very strong. She had procrastinated for years about writing it all down… the adventures… the yarns and stories… but had never got around to formally committing it all to paper. I had tried to get her started many times but somehow it never happened. Fortunately she had shared many stories with us kids over the years… enough for us to have absorbed some concept of “who” she was and what she had done. I can still see her face… and hear her voice… telling the little story above. It had to be changed into the third person of course…( and you should know… I was relieved when my brother confirmed that I had in fact told it right!) Phew… mum would not be pleased… (grin) I so agree with you that the elderly should pen their thoughts and memories… anything… everything that can help to light the way forward!
Jools… I liked your analogy re the hill too steep to climb… and the need to look behind to find a way around it. So true.
Just last week as my daughter and I drove through a new residential suburb I couldn’t help but remark how much things had changed in just one generation. As we passed row after row of big beautiful homes I couldn’t help but wonder where all the children were. With mum and dad both out working to pay for it… and the kids at day care until 6… there was no-one left at home to enjoy it. I know this is controversial… but just one generation ago… the average family was content with three bedrooms one bathroom one carport and considered themselves lucky to have one family car. Large extravagant homes were the exception rather than the rule back then. Now everyone’s got one… and doing whatever it takes to hang onto it. I do believe a responsible degree of “paring down” is ultimately going to be necessary.
Hi Jools! Yes, I agree with everything you said…although I think SOME of those hills are worth trudging up…the view at the top can be exhilerating after all that work! Ha!
I just read an interesting book lately that might be relevant to this discussion. It’s called, “The Price of Privellege”. It is written by a pyschologist that works with adolescents in a fairly wealthy community. She has discovered that the percentage of depresssed teenagers has risen dramatically in the strata of well to do demagraphics. Why is this? She asks. Her discoveries are really not that astounding…Jean and Jools, YOU both could have written this book. The children’s parents have become consumed with material goods and have showered their progeny with everything imaginable…except personal attention. The kids ultimately feel empty and shallow inside and resort to rash attempts of suicide to call attention to their lonliness. It’s so sad. Money in excess really does corrupt. I hope that we can all find that happy medium and live comfortably without having to sacrifice the relationships that give our live’s meaning!
(on a side note…I’m sorry I haven’t been around much…I go through waves of insane busyness and then occassionally float back down to reality to check in. I DO love the thoughts on this site…and the artistry as well!)
My return to this part of the world has made me look back on my life in a totally different way (I know I keep “hounding this!”..sorry!). When I last lived here, I lived in banana shacks (decrepid little shells of houses, up in amongst the banana plantations) where there was at times no electricty and no running water and a pit out the back for a loo! but I did not worry about it! We cooked on barb-b-q plates over a camp fire and would carry water back from town (only one of us had a car!) and it was never an issue….but then again, I was only 19 and had always loved camping (lol)! But it makes me see so clearly, where my roots came from and how I have handled or managed other things since then.
I am not surprised by the statistics of our youth and what studies have shown. Leaving material wealth behind for our children to “help them” is nowhere near as important as leaving them with a sound foundation to keep the cycle going..ie: mental and emotional stability, courage, stamina and how to sustain oneself. I have often shook my head at some of Emilys friends with their attitudes that parents should provide everything….their first car (and the upkeep of that car!), bill payments and anything they may need while they are busy out and about spending money hand over fist! It does not make sense to me at all! These kids are aimless and bored…yet they still moan and groan about their lives. They are not capable of looking after themselves…how can so much change in one generation alright!! The weird thing is that they really look up to Emily as she saved her money and bought my old car off me. Now she is paying her own rent and buys her own food She gets herself ready for work and choofs off! I agree too that abject poverty pulls my heart strings, but why do all the incredibly wealthy people hoard their money or sink it into making even more. I know I would never be incredibly wealthy…I would have given it to people who need it more than me!! lol!
Its so good to talk to you again Mary, I’m glad there has been a lull in your busyness!
Jean, this is a good topic….I could talk and talk and talk!
Mary… no need for explanation! I am just so happy to see you here when you are able to stop by and feel doubly blessed when you can offer us your valued thoughts! Life gets frantic… I know… and understand completely!
That book sounds interesting. I will try to get my hands on a copy. I share your concerns about this issue.
Jools… thanks for weighing in from personal experience. You are quite right about the vast changes society has undergone within a very short time frame. It’s concerning for sure. Re abject poverty… there is a lot being done across the world by a vast array of people organisations and corporations to alleviate the suffering. This recent Blog Action Day created quite a stir on the net with in excess of 12,000 bloggers participating and more than 13 million viewers pondering this topic on the same day with ideas and real world solutions for the greater problem.
I was reading recently about three of the world’s richest people Warren Buffett and Bill & Melinda Gates who are working together on projects through the Gates Foundation to alleviate poverty through progressive donations of their vast fortunes to charity. Both Buffett and Bill & Melinda Gates plan to have given their entire personal fortunes by the time they die. The world needs wealthy people as well… heavens where would we be without Microsoft? (grin) There are examples like this from both ends of the spectrum… rich and poor. People giving what they can. I think it’s truly wonderful…
Yes it is Jean!!!
Just on the note of wonderful things Jean…I have joined the local gallery here (Woolgoolga Art and Craft Gallery) for the princely sum of $25 p/yr, which allows me to hang in the gallery and have my own exhibtions there. The commission is 20% if you can man the counter once a month (but that is out of the question for me!!) or….you pay 30%. Anyway…I had a phone call from a gallery member yesterday, inviting me to morning tea to meet other members (on Tuesday!) just how lovely is that?
Sounds great Jools. That commission rate is virtually unheard of nowadays! Your new town sounds very friendly… no wonder you are settling in so well. Enjoy the morning tea tomorrow!
I have a blog article written but have stalled getting the accompanying music and pics together. Have builders here renovating… plasterers painters tilers etc. The place is a train wreck. Nothing like a bit of havoc to knock the creative urge dead on the head. LOL Watch this space… will get back here as soon as I can.
Ah ha…now the mystery has been solved! Good luck there Jean!!
Thanks Jools! Have fun today at your morning tea. Best thing about mucking up the date is you get to do it all over again another day…. kind of like so much deja vu… but in a good way! I once turned up to deliver paintings to an exhibition three days early… worse still I arranged to meet an artist friend for lunch after we had dropped off our paintings. We were the only ones there… oops! LOL All was not lost however as we got to do it all again a few days later.
Oh yes (grinning from ear to ear!!!). When I discovered my error of dates, I just shook my head and thought about what a lovely day it had been anyway! I’m pretty sure that the waitress will figure out what had happened! Lol!! I shall have to wear something else tho!
You’ll probably get super duper service there now Jools… being a regular ‘n all! (((chuckles)))
When it happened to me I was so embarrassed to have stuffed my friend around… but she was cool with it. An art therapist by trade… she told me how relieved she was to know that I do actually (sometimes) make mistakes and muck things up. It’s funny how others perceive us. I mean… I know I am faulty… but from the outside looking in… maybe not so much?! (((LOL)))
Well..yes, they know who I am in there now!! Lol! We did finally meet up yesterday and the story of my very early arrival proved to be a great start to more animated conversation! It is strange how people see you compared to how you see yourself! Alot of the time you could be talking about 2 different people!!
Please forgive my ignorance Jean…but what does an art therapist do???
Nah… with me… what you see is pretty much what you get! (((chuckles)))
Art therapists work with people who are troubled. Their clients aren’t artists… but rather… people who are experiencing difficulties in their life that need resolution. It’s a form of therapy that can be used by people who have been damaged by something in their life experience and need to find a way to express and release their anguish. In short… the “making of art” is used as a form of therapy. Fascinating eh? I hadn’t heard of it either… but it makes sense that art (as a form of expression) could be used in such a constructive way to help people with problems.
Have a great day Jools!
Thanks Jean! Now that I can understand…art as therapy!
With the comment on people seeing you as you are..I hate to say it, but some just do not…some see something that is totally just not there! You can get the “edge” on someone by what they wear or how they conduct themselves in public..but it is not really until you scratch away some of that veneer that you get to see the real grain of the timber! (wow…am I being influenced by my surroundings, Lol!) Anyway..that is another topic isn’t it!!!!
BTW..thankyou Jean for putting up the pic at the cafe, made my day!!!!
Gifts of generosity can make a person rich as well – for both giver and recipient!