Day 32 – My Child is Suffering in Poverty

I recently watched a documentary about children from England who live in poverty. They often lived in split families, where the parent was unable to find a job. One of the children was speaking out on how insane it is that the government was saying how important it is to have a job, yet they are cutting jobs, and there are only jobs available for 1 in 5 people. The father kept looking for a job but found none. Because of their poor situation, the boy does not have decent clothing to wear to school. They wear uniforms, but his pants is to small and ripped, because they can’t afford new ones. The children in his class call him ripped pants, as well as girl shirt. Because he wears a shirt from his sister since they can’t afford a new one.

Then there were two girls in the documentary, one was around 15, the other 8 years old. They both talked about self-mutilation and suicide. The youngest one sometimes scratches her eczema so hard, that it starts to bleed, because it helps her calm down. The older one talked about how she had tried to kill herself, because of the situation they had to live in. The older one was talking about school, and how it is all about the clothing you wear and how you look. And because she had no money to buy “the right” clothing, she got bullied and often ignored, which caused her to hurt herself because it made her feel better.

The children went to play to the park, but some of them had no friends to play with. A little boy mentioned that he often felt lonely. And they were mentioning that rich children can play puzzles and color when they get bored, but they had none of such things. They often don’t even have 3 meals a day. In the evening she had a sausage role and that was it. In the winter they can’t afford heating, so it is their least favorite time of the year. They often simply lay in bed under the covers to try and keep warm.

You have scenes of some girls playing around in an old house, and you may think: “look, they are poor but they are happy.” But that is a very misguided thing to say. When you actually hear their stories, you realize they simply try to make the best of their situation, but do not feel well over all. They often resort to self-mutilation and thoughts of suicide. A little girl said in the end, that she didn’t want to grow up. She repeated it two times. She had no hope for herself and her future, because of the struggle she saw her mom go through. Same for their house. On the outside it looks quite ok, but when you have a look inside you can see the mold on the walls, cracked beds. One of the girls mentioned that “it must be very bad people who let someone live in such a house”.

It is really sad to watch this, and puts you face to face with the reality that is out there. It is unacceptable that people have to live like that. In this system there will never be enough jobs for all, unless you create shitloads of useless jobs which are often damaging to human beings and our environment. It is a situation that can be stopped. So that people do not have to depend on a job in order to live and have what they need to survive. You may have some questions raising up right now, or even thinking that it is impossible. But that is simply because you have never know anything else than the system you have been living in. We sometimes think as if it is the best thing we can achieve, but really, that is very limiting. It is the “best thing” in an ego and profit driven consumer and competitor system yes, but is it the best system out of all options we have? Not even close.

You can watch the documentary here:

http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/mediatheek/programmas/koppen/2.22634/1.1338338

The beginning is in dutch, but the documentary itself is in English.

For info on what we can change and how we can change it, check out the following pages:

http://equalmoney.org/wiki/Labour http://equalmoney.org/wiki/Education

http://equalmoney.org/

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed a world system where we support a system that does not what is best for all, and has negative consequences such as starvation, poverty, slave labor and animal abuse, all in the sake of money and profit.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to justify and ifnd excuses for our current system, not realising I am actually defending my own enslavement and that of others, not realizing how I am making excuses for abuse

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to desire to stay blind because facing reality makes me feel bad

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowedmyself to pretend everything is allright so I can keep feeling good

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to place my own feelings and self intrest above the common good, even continuing others suffering by standing by and doing nothing

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not realize that those children in poverty could have been my own children, if we would have been born in their place, and their circumstances.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to place my own children before others because of the bond I feel with them, where I depend my actions in life on the way I feel and not what is actually best for all. Which results in me not really caring about others in FACT/reality, because caring means action. Caring does not just mean feeling something. Because when you only feel bad but on the other hand dont do anything, it is not true physical real caring.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have opinions about why this system can never change, and justifying poverty in that way, without really investigating if and how it can change. So I form an opinion purely on how I feel and what I hear, without any proper research and investigation, just because it is convenient to me.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not realize how, if it were my children or myself, I would want to be helped and I would want another system, and move heaven and earth to give my children a better life

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed a world where children get raised to be selfish and non caring for others

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed a world where children get raised into poverty and situations where they get bad examples and no proper parenting or education, which shapes them as adults and thus also our future. Within that I didnt realize how important it is to INCLUDE all beings, to have equal chances in life, so that they can develop their potential which will lift up not only their life, but for the whole of humanity.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not realize how our ignorance creates a backlash and will result in problems in the long run

I commit myself to stand for a world best for all, a world where all beings have equal chances ,where everyone can develop themselves and where we stand for the common good, instead of that of the minority. Such a world, which does what is best for all, is the only world that will actually do what is in fact best for the majority. And I will stand for that, no matter if others say it is possible or not. This is what is best, and what I will stand for regardless of others approval. I will do my best to contribute and eventually others may see that it indeed works best.

I commit myself to speak out about the abuse within our system, and refuse to keep a blind eye. I refuse to be yet another person that is blind and deaf, I refuse to be someone who silences the ones in need simply because of my own feelings.