My life rules!

I have the resources I need to continue to eek out a living. I have a car that runs. I have a full refrigerator. I have the tools I need in order to work. I can figure out ways to continue to educate myself. I can afford a cup of coffee. I can make my mortgage payment. I have a manageable amount of bad debt. I have a bicycle. I have a support system in place.

It doesn't sound like much, and it isn't, compared to someone with a corporate gig, but it's an embarrasing amount of wealth to have compared to someone like Fuze (my documentary subject). I'd been thinking about the financial gulf that separates us lately and what the difference is between barely making it and being in poverty. Poverty is so complex that it's hard to get a handle on all of the components that contribute to it's onslaught, but now I think it really boils down to, in Fuze's case, resources and breathing room.

Here's a guy who's smart, has a college education, is well spoken and outgoing, and still can't get a job. He works like a fiend and gets what money he can by selling his artwork and poetry. He lives in a friend of a friend's basement, barely eats enough, and spends most of his time wondering where his next dollar is going to come from. The one thing that allows him to earn the extremely small living that he does is the fact that he is mobile. He has an old car that he uses to drive to open mic nights and poetry slams in order to perform and sell his stuff (when he can afford the gas). His car is the one thing that keeps the scales from tipping in the direction of total financial devastation.

So, when his transmission blew yesterday, it all became very clear for me. He, in fact, was very philosophical about it. Like it was just one more thing to deal with, but the implications hit me hard. He can't do anything without his car. There is no public transportation that can help him. He now has to walk a half hour to the grocery store, an hour to get his email at the library, and has no chance of going to any gigs that aren't within walking distance of his house. In short, he's fucked. And it's not fair. He's done everything right. He's educated, smart, sober, spiritual and a really nice guy which adds up to: nothing, apparently.

I think we tend to search for certain indicators when we look at poverty and when there aren't any, we get nervous. We want to pidgeon hole people and look for behaviors that lead to poverty, but the truth is, they aren't always there. Lack of time and resources are what keep the cycle going. If you are always treading water, not drowning is all you think about.