A Twofold World

Did you know that 50% of the world lives on less than $2.50 a day? Or that 22,000 children die each day due to poverty? Or that in the United States if you make make $11,484 or less a year you are considered to be living in poverty? Or, if you're reading this and you have a family that the poverty line is $23,021 for a family of four?

The numbers are terrifying. Or they should be. The problem is sometimes we can't see it. Sometimes we don't understand it because it doesn't affect us, it doesn't pertain to us.

But these numbers DO pertain to us, they DO affect us! Here's how I see it:

For the past three weeks or so I've been living in a bubble where school work and job searching has not been important. I got the chance to go back to Ireland for two weeks with a friend where I was able to just be a tourist and see all the things on the island that I have been missing while being a student. And then I came back to Pennsylvania and walked across the stage and got a masters degree. But now it is Monday and the reality of finding a job has come back into the picture.

Today, I made a call to the HR department of a university up in New Hampshire to talk about a potential job. Like most jobs, the issue of salary and the pesky question of 'salary requirements' came up. The S word has never really been in my vocabulary. Up until now I have preferred 'minimum wage' and 'hourly' so you can understand why this particular question might throw me for a loop. I ended up finding out  the range for this particular position and it was less than I thought it would be. This new found word and all the complexities that come with it propelled my brain in a direction where I had to sit down and consider what my life, and financials, would look like if I was offered and took the job with that particular salary range. If you know me well you can probably imagine the freak out that ensued. Although, if you have seen me grow over the past couple of years you'll also know this freak out was mostly in my head and much more contained than it might have been three or four years ago.

My thought process began with examining what that salary would look like over the course of the year and I broke it down by how much I would make a month. It was at this point that my Dad pointed out that 1/3 is taken out for taxes which means less money than I originally thought for the month. If you were paying attention you would have noticed that this job is in New England, which, as my friends from that area will verify, has a higher cost of living. So here's when I factored in what an apartment would cost me. And then the bills I pay. And then there's the annoying student loan bills that will be knocking at my door. And finally there's that tiny detail of groceries and maybe some sort of a social life.

Just for illustration sake, let's break this down. And, to make it somewhat realistic to me I'll use the number that the US Census Bureau uses as the poverty line for a family of four: roughly $23,000

Salary: $23,000 for a ten month position.
Monthly paycheck: $2,300
After taxes: $1,541
After rent (roughly): $691
After bills (roughly): $491

So, given these numbers, in this area of the country, and before making any payments towards my student loans, I would be left with roughly $500 for the month. Now, part of me is optimistic and says that I could certainly live on $400-500 a month. There is another part of me that given the life I have lived over the past 25 years is concerned about what that might look like. I am not saying it couldn't, and isn't done, on a regular basis by people all over the country. What I am saying is that it is a shock to the system.

This shock to the system, more fondly know as adulthood, is what brings this post full circle.

As a white American, a westerner, an educated woman from a middle class family, I have never lived in a pay check to pay check world. I have never lived a life where dinner has been an option, unless option means that I had a big lunch that day. I have never known a life where my parents have had to the make choice between breakfast or buying a jacket for their child. The life I know is where I find myself thinking "how would I pay back my student loans?" and a bit more selfishly, "this means I might have to stop buying Vera Bradley!"

The shock to the system that I experienced is also the overwhelming understanding of our connection to humanity.

It is my hope that if you're reading this you will not experience the extreme poverty that some experience on a regular basis. It is my hope that you will not be one of the 1,000+ of Americans who are living below the poverty line, either as an individual or a family. It is my hope, however, that we all begin to understand just how connected we are as human beings. It is my hope that whether we make $100,000, $60,000, $30,000 or $15,000 a year that we understand that there are individuals worldwide that live on less than $2 a day. It is my hope that when we are faced with a shock to the system because our financials don't allow us to spend so much money as Wawa (click here if you have no clue what Wawa is!) or get that brand new smart phone that we will remember that some people can't even buy their children shoes.

I live in a twofold world. This world is the constant pull between "I'm going to go buy a cute new scarf for no reason at all" and "We aren't sure how we are going to feed our family tonight." And every once in a while, very subtly, the universe places me in the middle of it and reminds me of how lucky I am and how much more work has to be done.

How will you be an active citizen in your personal twofold world? How will you respond?