The Poverty Game ...

I'm sitting here literally giggling to myself. I was thinking, you know what? I'm old school. I don't think that's it. It might be just that I'm old. Whatever the case recently, maybe some of you can relate to this painful challenge. Yes, I'm being dramatic. Surprise. My company in the last year really jumped into the process of going paperless. To give you a clear idea of what we're talking about, I had seven filing cabinets of customer files. Yeah, they're all gone. They're not gone, they're digitized. I have to keep telling myself that they're not gone, they're digitized by Google. But there's still. You can see some filing cabinets here. There's still some work that needs to be done. So every now and then I catch myself, well, this morning I was looking for a certain document. Didn't find it. I guess I should actually look online. That'd be a novel idea. Look in my OneDrive. But what I came across was a whole bunch of really cool documents, handouts, whatever the case may be, that either I shared a long time ago memory lane trippin, or I haven't shared online, that I just shared in seminar. So I thought it would be fun. I'm still shooting videos ahead of time because I'm gonna be out of town. Well, I am out of town when you're watching this. I thought it'd be fun to share these because not only is it a memory lane trip for me, but they're still relevant. And because I'm trying to invoke change amongst my viewers. People, advocates, allies, empowered Indigenous, whatever the case may be, I thought, why not? Let's share these. So let's talk about it. Hi, everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. San Andy Boucher, Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. And as I mentioned in the opening, I just came across some things in my files, things that I've had around for years, haven't looked at in years, and I thought, because there's a really good chance I didn't share these on my YouTube channel, why not do that now? One of the challenges of being not only being Indigenous, but trying to get other people to understand what the Indigenous experience is like or the Indigenous worldview. This isn't going to surprise you because any marginalized person runs into this. What we hear in response is, well, you're not the only one. Well, duh. No one said we were the only one. But I would hope that rather than saying that and dismissing what we're saying, instead use the commonality to build the bridge. If you can relate to this, then you can relate to one small part of what it's like to be indigenous and today. This is originally. Wow. A blog post I shared because I used to do that every single day. Four years. Like 14 years. This blog post was originally written November 8, 2014. That's like what, 11 years ago or will be 11 years in November. It talks about poverty. And I know indigenous people are not the only impoverished people. In fact, the impoverished white population is where you can find some of the people that are so adamantly anti indigenous. And I explained this before. If you think of the privilege food chain and we believe, or if you believe indigenous is at the very bottom because you know what, it's cool to sponsor a newcomer. Nobody's going to think it's cool if you're trying to support indigenous or very few other people that support indigenous. But there's a good chance you'd get backlash for that. I'm not being neg, I'm being realistic. The white poor doesn't want to be at the bottom of that food chain, so they often come out and attack us the most to make sure we that they stay above us and we stay below them. But now I hope I really got to bring my magic wand closer to this camera. If I could wave a magic wand, I would wish that every single person watching this video had no idea what poverty is like. None that you've never experienced it, never had to worry about it, never had housing insecurity, food insecurity, any of those you always knew you had a roof over your head, a warm bed to sleep in, and food in the fridge. I hope that is the reality for everyone. Really good chance it's not. And that's kind of what this blog post is about. It was called six things I pray you never worry about or have never experienced. I'm just going to share this with you and then comment so it says. It goes without saying, we all know that those living in poverty have fears unknown to those living an affluent lifestyle. But as I went about my day yesterday, I couldn't help thinking, but do they really know? I mean, do they really understand meaning? I realize this isn't your life, but you realize what an impoverished like life is like. So then I go on to name six things. If you know poverty, these are going to resonate with you. Or if you've ever known poverty at prey that is not your reality. Now the first fact about being impoverished is being healthy isn't even on the radar. Let me share what I wrote here. It's year When I think back to my days as a single mom working full time just to see $500 of my 1200 monthly income going to rent and $600 going to daycare. While trying to figure out how I was going to rob figuratively to pay the hydro and buy food this month, I can honestly say I never thought to myself this is a healthier choice for my kid. I will buy that one. Honestly, my thought pattern was maxed out with thoughts of how in the heck am I going to get all 10 as soon as essential items on my list. Silly things, you know, like toothpaste and toilet paper. Kleenex was a luxury that never made the list. How was I going to get those things without running out of money? I should have thought about healthy options. I wish I had had that option back then. So the next time complaining about I'm going to say something really rude here. It's not something I would ever say, but this is what we hear the next time you hear someone talking about the poor as fat and lazy. Cheap food isn't healthy food. It is really easy to gain weight eating crap and if you want to treat your kids well, that's probably McDonald's. That's definitely not a healthy option. Add in being indigenous, the leaning towards high blood pressure and diabetes because not only does it run in our family trees, those are definitely linked to poverty and poor eating and the cycle just gets worse and worse. But it is so easy to judge. We're not going to do that. Okay, that was one second one. Again. If you've been there, if you know, you know, check out line panic. If you have been below or dancing on the poverty line, you know that grocery shopping or really any shopping involves hardcore never ending mental math from the second you walk in the door to the second you fork over the cash or sigh because the debit machine just flashed approved. The whole trip is adding up the cereal with the milk, picking the cheapest margarine even though you know it's the grossest, and thanking the powers that be for no name products. I haven't been in that financial situation in years, but I'll admit that I still have to remind myself that I don't have to add up the products in my cart anymore. Not now, not ever again. But I can feel it right now. That panic. That fear of embarrassment and being consciously, fundamentally aware of how many people are standing behind you in line that are going to roll their eyes or have some comment if that debit card isn't approved or if God forbid, you have to ask to put something back because you just don't have enough cash on you. Poverty is not for the weak, contrary to popular opinion. Number three oh God, I remember this one so well. A lawnmower. You're kidding, right? I lived in a low rent housing project project like lots of single parents do and I had heard the judgments. We don't care about our homes, we prefer to live like bums. Yep, heard it shake my head every single time. Let's do the math. Refer back to the last number. It's a constant thing us poor people have to do. Lawnmower was $400 at that time, plus gas or electricity depending on the type of that wasn't going to fit into the hundred dollars I had left each month. Refer to the first point. Meanwhile, the city finds us $85 once or twice per summer season. If they have to send their guys out to cut it for us, I think I can swing affording the fine. You think we're not cutting the lawn because we're lazy? Yes, I heard I've touched on politics quite a bit of late and I've heard people referring to the Green Party every now and then. How much they very they're in line with the Green Party and wanting to save the environment. Unfortunately, the Green Party, usually the supporters of the Green Party are the affluent white who have some kind of guilt trip or just want to help out the poor people. They they're adamant about saving the planet now and look down on the rest of us that don't sign up. Never realizing, like I said in the beginning, that healthy food wasn't an option while worrying about whether the gas in my car is going to destroy the climate when I have to get to work is a luxury I couldn't afford. So this one is extra clean gas. I wish. Do I wish to hurt Mother Earth? Of course not. Do I realize that burning better gas would make my car run longer? Longer than the approximate three years the bucket of bolts has left? I do, but again just doesn't fit in that hundred dollars a month I have left. Come to think of it, for most years, neither did my car. But without a car I reserved the right to haul my 20 bags of no name products home in a cab. I just can't physically manage them on the bus. Go ahead and judge me for spending money on a taxi. We live with judgment as often as we have to do the math. It's just part of the poverty game. Number five, staying home sick. I totally get it. It makes total sense. If I'm sick, I should stay home so that others in the office don't get sick too. But only if I have sick days. Because if I don't have leave, I literally cannot afford to stay home. Although once or twice I have had to miss work because I didn't have change for the coin operated Mach machines in our laundry room. Don't worry, I saved bus fare so my kids got the higher quality lunch meat that month. And God help me if one of my kids gets sick I have to stay home then. Did you know what a sitter costs even for just one day? Health and maintaining your health. Luxury. Luxury we just can't seem to afford. Last but not least, air conditioning. I wish I agree that tin foil in my windows looks horrific. I wish I didn't have to do it. But the sun comes streaming in that window past my cheap drapes I've handmade out of secondhand sheets from the Sally Ann. If I don't use tin foil, it gets way too hot in here and my kids can't sleep and I can't sleep sleep. And we need sleep. They need to be able to learn. I need to be able to earn. So please forgive me. The blog post ends with do you get it now? Do you? I hope so, because poverty is exhausting enough. Adding the burden of guilt thanks to your lack of understanding is just too much to carry on top of everything else. So please, at least try to understand. Please. Now I want you to sit back and think of your community, the town or municipality or reserve where you live. Think of how many people maybe you have heard being judged, or maybe you've judged how many of them are playing the poverty game not by choice, but because they're trapped there until they finally figure out a way to get out. I hope that helped build that bridge. And no, indigenous are not the only ones. We all need to get out of the poverty game. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.