As I had my coffee and my breakfast this morning I decided to have a look through Thursday's paper. There are certain sections of the paper which I skim over, having no interest in their content whatsoever. There is one columnist who I flick past every time I read the paper, the picture above the headline puts me off every time, not to mention the fact that the page is full of uptight politics punctuated with ads and other insignificant articles. I know one should never judge a book by its cover but sometimes you just can't help it. I read the headline which took up most of the page and was so taken aback by the contradiction that I felt compelled to read the entire article. 'Just look in the office fridge and you'll see how the new poor are forced to scrimp on the bread line'
Having read three sentences I knew I was right to skip past this particular column each day. This article was about the recession and how it had hit people hard, they were now bringing their lunch to work with them as they could no longer afford to slip out to Marks and Spencer and buy their luxury sandwich, they have been reduced to actually having to make their own lunch and bring it with them, imagine, the absolute horror. I read on, slightly amused and also slightly bothered by the fact that this lady was actually writing about how her middle class friend was struggling so badly, she was finding it difficult to pay her health insurance payment each month and , wait for it, had to cancel her home insurance policy.
Having lived in a third world country I felt bothered by this woman, she came across as obnoxious, elitist and just unbearable. I read on as she started to complain about taxes and all the while telling of her friends agony that her upper middle class life had been demoted and she was now merely middle class, like the majority of people in this country.
Speaking from the point of view of somebody who has seen extreme poverty up close I was enraged. As you drive into Mexico City the mountainside has been swallowed by makeshift houses, shacks and millions of people literally living on top of each other. These people live on ten pesos a day (55 cent of a euro) feeding a family of four. These people may not have electricity, running water or be receiving an education. This is poverty, seeing these people as they come down from the mountains to wash car windscreens in the city to earn enough money to provide what they can for their families, that is having 'to scrimp on the bread line'
There has been so much talk of recession in this country in the past years, people have no idea what it truly is to live on the edge, to suffer at the hands of poverty. Yet here we are, reading articles just like this one feeling sorry for a middle class woman who cannot pay her health insurance each month. Darling, I hate to break it to you but poor people cannot afford health insurance and looking in the office fridge is not an option as often they do not have a job.
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