Last Friday, NPR had a story about John Edward’s new war on poverty.\u00a0 In that segment, they had a commentary by a guy from rural Kentucky about the economic state of the area.\u00a0 His point was that the part of Kentucky he is from has been experience a depression for quite some time, that while the country as a whole is worried about a recession, some parts of the country have been experiencing very difficult times for a while now.<\/p>\n
He said there were no jobs where he is.\u00a0 But that his family has been in the area for 100 years or more and that he doesn’t want to leave the area.\u00a0 Which got me to thinking, isn’t it his choice then to be poor?\u00a0 Clearly, there isn’t much economic opportunity in his part of Kentucky.\u00a0 But he sticks it out there nonetheless.\u00a0 However, he could easily move to another part of the country where there is greater economic opportunity and maybe turn his life around.<\/p>\n
I understand the romanticism attached to his ancestors’ home.\u00a0 But, it seems to me, sometimes, you have to move past that if you want to have a future.\u00a0 You have to move past the past of your ancestors and think of your future.<\/p>\n
I can only relate to the experience of my dad in this.\u00a0 He grew up in a rural part of the Basque region of Spain where the majority of people lived by substinance farming.\u00a0 There were some industrial jobs, such as a local paper mill, but they had to travel by bus 30 minutes to get there.\u00a0 My dad’s family lived in the house where he was born for several hundred years, maybe upwards of 300-400.\u00a0 However, my dad realized that there wasn’t much economic opportunity there and, at the age of 18, left Spain to come to the United States, a land where he knew nothing of the language nor customs of the people.\u00a0 He took work as a sheepherder, a grueling job that found him alone, or with possibly one other herder, in the mountains for months at a time.\u00a0 Eventually, though, through hard work and a willingness to improve his lot, he found better and better opportunities until he was owner of a small trucking business hauling hay in the southern Idaho region and the surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
The point is, my dad realized that there was no economic possibilities where he grew up and he made a choice, a huge sacrifice, to improve his place in life.\u00a0 This seems to me to be the embodiment of the American dream.\u00a0 He was never successful beyond his wildest dreams, but he made a life for himself that was better than he could have imagined back in Spain.<\/p>\n
So, while I sympathize with the guy in Kentucky, I also think it is his choice to live in such hard economic conditions.\u00a0 And I find it odd that we seem to romanticize this attitude, this behavior, while, in some sense, demonizing those immigrants coming to America to try and better their life.\u00a0 Again, these guys, both the legal and illegal, sacrifice a huge amount to try to improve their economic situation.\u00a0 They are the American dream.\u00a0 I wonder what the ancestors of the guy in Kentucky would think, if they could look in on their descendants.\u00a0 Those ancestors made the sacrifice, moving west to create a new life, giving up the comfortable situation they may have been in for the promise of something better.\u00a0 Would they be proud that the children of their children are staying on the homestead, or would they want those descendants to embrace the same spirit and move on and find their own future?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last Friday, NPR had a story about John Edward’s new war on poverty.\u00a0 In that segment, they had a commentary by a guy from rural Kentucky about the economic state of the area.\u00a0 His point was that the part of Kentucky he is from has been experience a depression for quite some time, that while … Continue reading A choice to be poor?<\/span>