Greta, there's a lot of insight in what you say. From my perspective, as one
of the WISE women, I am seeing that the deeper our poverty and the longer it
remains, the more the women are choosing to opt out of participation in our
one-size-fits-all social Darwinian culture. We no longer value it.  

A case in point... When we told our stories in 2004, we envisioned what our
future would be like. All but two of us - one retired, the other looking
forward to retirement -, saw herself working. We yearned for work, NOT FOR
THE SAKE OF MONEY, but for the sake of our self-esteem and to be part of our
community. We wanted to be, and have a life, like everybody else. As the
years go by and most of us remain where we were, unable to access help to
change our situation, more and more of us are CHOOSING poverty. We are
turning our backs on money itself and the warped philosophy that values
money over people. 

Another phenomenon is that the isolation that poverty imposes is also
becoming something we choose. Our continued poverty is transforming who we
are and the political views we hold. It is making us anti-establishment,
anti-globalization, anti-capitalist, anti-government, anti-union,
anti-property rights, etc... 

How permanent these changes are I cannot say, but it makes sense that for
people to endure longterm poverty, they must change how they view it. 

What I'm seeing - and we've talked about this amongst ourselves -, is that
the extent of poverty in Canada is creating a widening crack in society's
foundations. The potential backlach or tidal wave that could result should
frighten the powers-that-be, since more people are becoming marginalized by
poverty.

Ocean

----------------------------------------
Ocean, WISE Coordinator
http://www.wise-bc.org/

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Greta wrote: If we are a bunch of intellectual snobs, then we think that
education and money makes us better people. If we look at the reality of
things then we know that the small store clerk, and our neighbor, are as
important to us (probably more) as the medical doctor who hands out pills or
the lawyer who makes big money by encouraging us to sue everybody.  We are a
society that gives 'much, too much' importance to money and intellectual
'expertise' (so-called). I attempt to listen to the low income, low
education, poor people of my community and often find that they have much
wisdom and expertise. Indeed some folks are rejecting our societal 'dominant
social culture' group mentality. They are 'opting out'.  You usually find
them selling their wares at the community farmers and craft market. I also
find some of them close to their fishing boats in the village where I was
born. We intellectuals make them our weekly 'getting down with the common
people' event. They are quite often the 'real people' out there. They have
more 'social cohesion' than we city folks will ever muster. How I love
living in the Atlantic Maritimes, despite our supposed backwardness.

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