Daily Happenings from poetsareangels

I often see and hear the word “poor”. Sometimes I wonder if those who use it truly know the meaning of the word. Which by definition means “lacking enough money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society.” Someone once referred to me as being poor and it truly bothered me and I’m not sure why. I do now that there were days when I was a single parent that I felt the way, but the truth is, no matter what, my children always had a roof over their hood in a town that people fight to live in. They were never unable to attend a birthday party without a gift. They were always able to go with their friends on outings. I couldn’t afford to send them on other trips like skiing because I was saving for Christmas or birthdays. Everyone always received grandiose gifts. My children always had clothes that fit and had no holes unless they wanted them. They all have whatever electronic gadget you can think of. I’m certainly not rich, but by the definition of the word, I’m not poor.

I also often think of those that are actually poor. Those who have to sleep outdoors at night because they are too proud to go to a shelter. Others that live in countries that just don’t have the means to help the poor or just choose not to help them. I think of all those people who go to bed or wake up poor because their home was ravaged by fire and they lost all that they owned, but are still happy to be alive.

The truth is people improperly use the word poor every day. It saddens me, because I truly believe they don’t understand the true meaning of the word and therefore can’t really be is pathetic to those truly in the position of being poor. No one wakes up one day and says “hey, I’ve decided I want to be poor”.

My only reason for posting this is to hopefully raise awareness in others and to hopefully get them to think about the way they use certain words.