Celebrating Survival

[ladyjanelly]

Anti-Privilege meme.

Yeah, I'm a little bitter.  Doing that meme made me realize how much it takes some people to feel they're in the privileged category.  

The meme is yes, a measure of privilege.

So here's the other side of the coin.  

I only had myself to base this thing on, and the few things I've heard from other people that I can think of at the moment.

Feel free to steal it and add to it.  Celebrate the strength it takes to survive.

(Bold if it's true)

 

 

I knew nobody but me would pay for my college

I’ve known the joy of a welfare Christmas

Someone besides my parents were the main providers of most non-necessary items

I thought Santa Claus hated me (or I was real bad), based on the gifts you got

I didn’t have the normal climate control for where I lived (A/C in the south, Heat in the north)

I didn’t have cable TV

I saw at least one of my parents use drugs

I saw at least one of my parents buy or sell drugs

My parents used food stamps to put food on the table

I remember living for more than a week without a necessary utility (gas, water, power)

My family was evicted or foreclosed on

My home suffered from a vermin infestation

I ate Lunch at school because it was free

I ate breakfast in the school lunch room, because it was free

 I was the oldest, and all my clothing was kept for younger siblings
I was not the oldest, and all my clothing was used

 

EDIT:

I knew nobody but me COULD pay for my college
I'm the first woman in 3 generations to not be pregnant by age 18.

Comments

[avid-slacker.livejournal.com]

I find it interesting because almost nothing on the privilege meme applies to me and almost nothing on this meme applies to me, save for the fact that I paid for college with grants and was the first to go.

I do know that we definitely weren't middle-class, but I think like most people we lived in that space where money is always an issue but most of life's smaller luxuries can still be afforded.

I remember Cindy Crawford once said that the best part of being a supermodel was not having a broken vehicle be the difference between surviving and not. That's what I aspire towards, not fearing the lack of money.

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

the broken vehicle thing. Exactly.

It's a good goal.

I think the parents' money-savy has a lot to do with the feeling of poverty. To some point, my mom chose the poverty as part of a semi-hippie lifestyle. Some stuff just wasn't necessary to be like that.

Again, I dunno if I could have done everything better in her shoes.