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skookumchuck | 6 years ago

The missing part of your story is why a competent person became quite poor and homeless.

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DoreenMichele|6 years ago

Yes, let's just assume poverty is clearly due to personal incompetence and can't possibly be for any other reason, thereby proving my point about classism .

But since your prejudice is the norm, most people here will agree with you.

A. I was a homemaker who got divorced. This is such a significant issue, there are actually programs to rehabilitate former homemakers, something I didn't know until recently.

B. In the US, most poor people are women (and their children) who were solidly middle class until they got divorced, widowed or unexpectedly pregnant.

C. I have a serious medical condition. This is a frequent cause of financial ruin in the US.

I actually chose to go sleep in a tent to get healthier and I vastly underestimated how much classism and sexism would be a barrier to readily returning to a middle class lifestyle. Sleeping in a tent to get healthier was very successful, which reinforces my self perception that I'm very competent since the world tells me "people like you don't get well."