Being More Than just Poor

I've spent most of my life poor. That's in comparison to most Americans, even the poorest people here have it better than much of the world. It never hurts to point out I'm aware of how things are and grateful for all I do have. Here's the rub:
For the last 6 months I've been studying (primarily via the internet) poverty and the income disparity in America. Books, magazines, Ezines, Wiki and I even searched out blogs. Everything I've found pretty much has this common theme: The poor are examined as if we were test subjects, akin to rats in a cage. Is this because we're taught to be ashamed of being poor or does the subject only interest writers who have never experienced poverty personally? Seriously, the few who bother to notice act as if it were a great revelation to discover we are people too. I can't speak for all of us, but to me, it's kind of insulting. Are the rich and middle class teaching their children that poverty is contagious or that the poor are a subset (sub-human?) of the species? What really galls me is that these are the same people who are too busy to raise their own children and hire us to do it for them!! We are also the people who haul their garbage, maintain their lawns and clean their toilets.
Do I sound resentful? Not so much... anymore. Let me relate just one experience that may explain why I was once so resentful. In my early 30's, I got a job with a nonprofit: Public Interest Research Group. The job consisted of canvassing neighborhoods, finding people willing to participate in surveys, sign petitions and hopefully help fund the organization. Although I only lasted a week, I did the job as well as anyone else. (I actually did the exact same job for GreenPeace for the next 18 months) I had been evicted from a boarding house in the middle of that week but chose not to share that information with anyone. I went to work clean and as well dressed as everyone else. The only differences were my age (They were all in their early 20's) and income level. Instead of books (Most were also students) I had clean clothes in my backpack. The night I was "let go", it had rained heavily on us. I loaned one poor shivering girl a clean, dry shirt from my backpack. Oh, the reason I was fired was because, "You just don't fit in". Imagine how hard I was biting my tongue the night before, hearing 2 girls talking about how rough they had it because they only had a washer but no dryer... and I had been homeless for the last 2 days. The evening after I was fired, I returned to get my shirt back. The second I entered the office, the leader ushered me back into the hallway and threatened to call security. (As a former Marine, you can imagine how hard it was for me not to just stomp his a** for daring to threaten me!) I calmly explained that I was not there to cause trouble or make a scene, I just wanted my shirt back. He had me wait in the hallway while he went inside to retrieve it for me. Add insult to injury.
As I mentioned earlier, within a week I was doing the same job, despite being homeless the first 8 months of it. And I DO mean HOMELESS. I wasn't couch surfing, living in a car or staying in shelters. I slept in parks, broke into abandoned houses or empty apartments and sometimes slept on or under porches of businesses. So yeah, for a long time I carried a grudge, bore some resentment etc.
It took me awhile to let that crap go. Only after coming to the realization that I was mad because someone else was ignorant, and seeing that a majority of people like that slowly get owned by their possessions, was I able to see that in some ways I have been blessed by poverty. I truly appreciate many things they take for granted. Until you have been without it for an extended period of time, you never realize that the pinnacle of civilization is HOT RUNNING WATER. Everything else is just gravy!
You can find plenty of articles explaining why the poor actually pay more for many things, so I won't go into all that here. My purpose in writing this is to make people aware that treating someone as less than human is just plain wrong. It doesn't matter why someone is different than you. Whether it's their skin color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, income level or any other difference, if you treat them as a person, just like you in most ways, you might find a friend. And I've yet to meet the person who has too many friends. (Lottery winners may be an exception but I still haven't met any of those!) If you are interested in learning more about the poor or looking for a resource to help people who are poor, (Including those in the process of becoming poor) you can find me at More Than Poor
My site, much like my life, is a work in progress, but hopefully it still offers help for some. Who knows? Sometimes we find good information pertinent to ourselves in unlikely places. Come by and see for yourself.