I recently watched a video from CNN about a young single mother living on minimum wage. To summarize, she's 22 and cares for her one-year-old son. The child's father is in prison for reasons the mother doesn't give, so she has been working at McDonald's for almost a year to make ends meet. This young woman works part-time, and has unpredictable hours that make it difficult to take another job. Basically, this family of two can only survive with a considerable amount of government support.
The video itself didn't leave much of an impression on me since I'm already somewhat familiar with poverty in the United States. But then I read the comments. As these were Youtube comments, I knew I was in for a wild ride. One or two commenters were supportive, and suggested that perhaps living on minimum wage is a struggle after all. However, the rest harshly judged this single mother. Many these comments pointed out the fact that this woman owns an iPhone, or otherwise focused on the small seemingly frivolous purchases in her life. And all the negative comments had one common thread: she wasn't struggling hard enough. In their eyes, she was too well-off to be poor. And that made my blood boil.
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Now, before I get ahead of myself, I need to make it clear that I'm not writing to advocate any particular economic policy, such as welfare or raising the minimum wage. I'm not quite sure at this point how I stand on economic policy. To what extent can we trust the free market, and to what extent should we collectively take charge of the economy? At the moment, I am more interested in a general ideology that would inspire policy. I am more interested in the notion that individuals who are at least trying to better themselves deserve more than the bare necessities, and we should tolerate their small indulgences.
I believe in meritocracy to a certain extent, but not as much as what many Americans believe. I think people should contribute to the economy or their communities if they can; I see no excuse for an able-bodied person to not work in some capacity. I think that a job should be given to the best person available, regardless of applicants' social statuses. However, I fundamentally disagree with assigning merit to a person's worth as a human being. Our nation subconsciously adheres to the belief people who cannot pay their own way do not deserve dignity, or anything beyond what they absolutely need to survive.
I definitely believe that this is a subconscious notion. Most people genuinely mean well, and wouldn't treat their fellow man so callously. But if you look within yourself, you will probably find an ingrained notion of your value as a person connected to economic output. Why else would it be taboo to discuss how much you earn in comparison with a neighbor? While it is important to contribute to society, it's dangerous to get hung up on the price tag attached to your labor. It in part causes us to dehumanize the poor and forget that they also have human wants as well as needs.
It can be difficult to understand that even in the darkest of times, people need things beyond the necessities. Families living in even more extreme poverty than our case study, such s those living on less than a dollar a day, will forgo buying food for a day to buy luxuries such as tea. It is simply unreasonable to suggest that a human go without any sort of luxury or frivolous activity or purchase. And yes, this includes iPhones.
While this young mother's ownership of an expensive piece of electronics seems like an unnecessary indulgence she could, perhaps, sell to pay rent, think about what a smartphone represents. It is a way to contact friends and family without a land line. It's a way to entertain her son. It's a way to get online, and learn something new or get a job. And above all else, it symbolizes dignity, the notion that all people are entitled to something beyond their daily drudgery. Let this woman have her cell phone; there are greater ways to waste money than to have nice things.
