My Low Wage Life

William Burke- My Low Wage Life

I have been fortunate in many ways, one is to never have really needed to work for low wage, and another is the kind of values my parents instilled in me surrounding money, spending, and aid. I grew up with an echo of “do you really need that?” Though I can see now that I still received much more than most of the world, in comparison to those around me, I prioritized necessity over luxury. In reading Shipler, I could not have agreed more with the numerous people he talked to who were disheartened and troubled by the spending habits of many poor. The idea that Cable TV is something that is now seen a “necessity” over nutritious food, reflects upon the kind of priorities that much of America is growing up with now. I cannot help but feel responsible for this phenomenon. This is not a universal issue; it is an issue due to the relative nature of wealth, and the economic disparity that exists in America.
Though I might be conscious and thoughtful about where and how I spend money, that doesn’t detract from the fact that I still have a wealthy lifestyle. Regardless of how much I might rationalize my spending, the vast majority of it is superfluous in respect to survival. So not only am I hypocritical in my criticism of how many people spend the little money they have, but I am also the cause of this problem. Though admittedly I do not have a perfect life, externally I am practically the poster child for consumerism. I fill the stereotypes you find in advertisements all around America. I cannot say if as an individual I have had much of an impact on anyone, but as in voting, every person counts. More than that, I have spent my middle and high school years at an institution where 1/3rd of the students are on some form of financial aid. Am I responsible for spending decisions and how they go on to prioritize with their money? If our recent readings of Shipler, Ehrenreich, and Schlosser, have conveyed one overwhelming messege, it’s that poverty is everywhere and overwhelming. With so much stacked against you when you’re trying to find a way out of poverty, is seems ludicrous to me that a person could risk that for a need caused by excellent advertising and unrealistic ideals. There is a sad sort of irony here, where I am at the core of perpetuating a problem that I detest.
Again I should examine my own hypocrisy. Though it might seem to me that Cable TV and other similar luxuries might be less important than more nutritious food, I am not in a fair position to make that judgment. It’s been more than a decade since I’ve been without Cable TV, and so there is clearly a draw, one that is not ignored by the less fortunate. In American society there are enormous social pressures, which result in this kind of spending. American consumerism is truly victorious here. We now see people blatantly robbing themselves of their of financial stability because of the very products they hope to someday be able to afford.