Poverty
Poverty Is Not a Choice
A recent trip to the emergency room because I couldn’t afford a doctor’s visit highlights why escaping poverty is nearly impossible for so many
In 2014, I was running my own business until I had a stroke and could no longer work. What came after that we have yet to recover from. We lost our house, one of our two vehicles, our business, and all our funds due to hospital and doctor bills. Now, ten years later, we’re still struggling through poverty, teetering on the edge of homelessness, and my continuing health problems.
I went from being a federal government contractor in disaster recovery and infrastructure such as telecommunications, flood control, and whatever our contracted engineers felt they could handle while meeting strict compliance requirements to becoming a writer and later a journalist after taking courses online via Open Courseware offered by various elite universities such as Harvard, Yale, and the Poynter Institute.
This sudden and drastic shift in careers has been difficult yet fitting. As someone who has had to write dozens of reports that were hundreds of pages long documenting field survey results after disasters, it’s a complimentary experience. Knowing how to deal with red tape and battle the…