Boxes made of plastic fortunes.

As a child I believed a priveledge was something lost when you were bad, priorities were not embarrassing the mommy, pasta was better than beans and poverty was what happened if you ran away from home. As an adult I know that priveledge is every freedom we take for granted, priorities are surviving much more than embarrassment and poverty tastes much worse than beans. I grow up knowing struggle was and always will be part of life and as time passes I learn to roll more readily with the punches. I am reminded daily of my goals and inspired more in these past few weeks to push harder. Each day I go to work dreaming of a time I can enjoy what I do and each night I come home hoping I can somehow forget how utterly ignorant people are. I spend 8 hours a day listening to people cry poverty over a non-essential expense and each time I think - if you can still consider this a priority you cannot be that poor.

Is this just my opinion or is it fact? Am I thinking too far outside the box or has the box moved and I've been left behind. It seems that somewhere along the way society has added a third mirage group of haves to the traditional haves and have nots. Keeping up appearances and charging it all the way home. We are a society living the lie I hear in the voices of wildly disillusioned customers every day. Believing each in our own way that having things is a right we earn simply by wanting. Building debts to ensure our place among the economically priveledged, creating a false sense of security and entitlement all to "fit in". A commodity is defined most simply as anything that is bought and sold. A necessity on the other hand is defined as essential. When did the two become so very intertwined? We systematically live beyond our means and wake up expecting things to get better but they won't. Nothing about the way we live as a society is built to survive the inevitable reality check that has been left unopened on the table.

The ones who will survive won't be the haves or the underpriveledged over entitled "mirage" haves. The survivors will be the have nots for they are the most prepared. The have nots are the most skilled at survival and know the art of living simple. They alone have the truest appreciation for life and the most real understanding of happiness. I aspire to be as strong, happy, aware and prepared for the downturns of life as this socially overlooked group of people. I am not embarrassed of my experiences, I'll not be ashamed of my means or forget my priorities. It is my belief the have nots have more support, love and ability to thrive under even the worst of circumstances and I am not there yet but I am fortunate enough to be very, very close.