Survival Training Camp
- By Richard McCann
- Published 09/27/2008
Richard McCann
I'm a 40 year old landscaper with lots of interests. I live in Landenberg, PA, a small town on the outskirts of Delaware. I was born in Manchester, England, and I have lived in this country for almost 30 years. I enjoy writing about anything: gardening, politics, motorcyles, how-to's of all sorts, art related stuff, traveling, you name it! I love to do anything creative, and I live for seeing horizons!
One of the things I notice most about politicians is their general lack of knowledge, or experience with the poor. They usually begin by saying they grew up in such and such circumstances, or in some lowly poor place, or knew someone who did, but most of the time they didn't. They usually get found out at some point or other, and then there's a big uproar, that usually lasts a day or two, and then everyone forgets about when Hillary Clinton said she grew up somewhere, or George Bush said he grew up somewhere else, and he knows exactly what it's like to be poor. So what..
The fact of the matter is, that the rich, politicians etc, and even some of the middle class, and the poor all live in their respective vaccuums. They usually have little or no interaction with the other classes, and consequently they have very little realistic knowledge of the other classes. For instance, a relatively poor person might work as a housekeeper, or a groundskeeper for a very wealthy person, and might see them on a day to day basis, but the poor person, and the rich person still do not interact that much. "Cut the grass" "Si, senor" "Here's some left overs for you and your family" "Mucho Gracias, senor" They still pay Jose, but that's it. They won't invite him for dinner, or ask him how he's doing financially, or ask him if he's putting money away for retirement, or how he is dealing with the high price of gas. Likewise, Jose will come home and laugh at how Mr. Johnson seems to have no clue about any of these things. He can't understand why Mr. Johnson doesn't cut his own grass, or make his own beds, or whatever. They see how the other half lives only to an extent. Meanwhile Mr. Johnson figures that he would rather pay someone $20 to cut his grass, than waste the 1 1/2 hours it would take him, which he can in turn use for doing 1 1 /2 hours of work, for which he gets paid, let's say, $50. He sees a time is money issue. It is. For everyone. He just has more of it.
The big picture is part of the problem. There is the short term, versus long term issue. Rich people often think long term. They have long term investments. They can afford to put some money away and sit on it for 30 years, and then spend it bit by bit for retirement. They may actually be able to retire. Poor people can't do that. They don't think long term. They get some money, and it's spent before they have a chance to divvy it up, and save some of it. I'm not dirt poor, but I still have a hard time saving a lot of money. I do know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck, or at least be only 2 paychecks ahead of abject poverty. The rich don't know that. They have stable jobs. The poor don't. Granted, these are all generalisations, and are not meant to be interpreted as fact for every person. There are exceptions to all rules, but I'm pretty sure that most of this is right. The poor think short term. They get a car, it breaks down. They fix it. It's a gas guzzler, they put only half a tank in it. If they could just see long term, they might see that they would spend less money, if they invested in a more economical car in the first place, rather than spending more time, money, etc. on gas, fixing the old jalopy etc. But it's often hard to see that when you are just trying to make ends meet. Sometimes you can only make the minimum payment on whatever bill comes through the mailbox. Sometimes you have to use a credit card because you don't have enough money in your checking account to fix your car, or your water heater, or your siding that is falling off your trailer, or name the problem, we've had them all.
Politicians should have training camp. It should be mandatory for them. Just like boot camp for every soldier. Or like a strange episode of Survivor, or some reality show, it could be broadcast each week by webcam in the trailer, and the car, and at the menial job, as a way for the American people to decide who is best suited to run their country! They should be made to live in a trailer for a month. I'll be nice, and say it can be a double wide, with a nice corner lot, after all, this scenario will never happen, so we might as well make it a nice scenario. While there, they should be made to work at a local job, something extremely menial: maybe cook, waitress, landscaper, carpenter or guy who just got laid off, and only has 1 weeks pay in his bank account before other guys start coming to take his stuff. During this month they should be made to drive a shitty car. One that breaks down regularly, or at least once during each month that it is used for training. It should not be good on gas, and if it is, should be over 15 years old, and have serious problems, that can't be fixed with the money that is available for the month, regardless of how much overtime you work. Along with the
crappy car, the crappy job, and the so-so trailer, there should be a stack of bills to pay, as the said politician sees fit. He, or she doesn't have to pay them all. He or she can put some on the counter and pay them as they want to, but should be aware that not paying the bills will result in ongoing problems. Maybe, the training period should actually last for more than 3 months, so that the politicians can experience the feeling of constant phone calls to explain why you haven't paid such and such, or repo calls for said items, or various telemarketing scams, etc.etc. The bills should include, at the very least the following items: trailer payment, and lot rent, car insurance, cell phone, home phone, cable tv, or satellite, water, trash, sewage, stacks of junk mail, and finally 3 or 4 credit card bills that seem much higher than they should be, given the crappy lifestyle you are currently leading. Other items to pay for, that may not necessarily come in bill form are the following: money for a car payment, paid at the dealership, usually a used car dealer that you don't like, in a part of town that you don't like. Also, food, often lots of individual meals, rather than a month's supply of food in the freezer, food that must be prepared by you, not by someone else. Food that doesn't taste all that appealing, but you have to eat it, cause it's all there is. For good measure we will throw in a few other bills, such as fines for various car problems, running red lights, etc., parking tickets, car registration, snap-on tools, sears card or equivalent. For argument's sake, we will say that each politician who does this "survival trianing" will have to go it alone, rather than with his, or her whole family. After all, it isn't the family's fault that he or she decided to become a politician, and they aren't going to be relied upon to mkae decisions for all of us, down the road. That being said, this is obviusly not a truly realistic scenario, (just like The Real World is far removed from the real world, and Survivor is not all that hard) since there aren't the 2-5 children, and a spouse that would ordinarily go along with this lifestyle, and the bills they would create. However, for politicians that are used to a pretty cushy lifestyle, this would probably be a shocking training excursion. Left over money weekly can be spent on whatever you want to spend it on, if you have any! For instance, fixing the front door lock, so burglars, or repo men don't come and steal your shit. Or drugs (beer included) which can help you get hrough the rigors of daily existence from time to time (used in moderation, of course).
Along with just living at the trailer, and working a crappy job, driving a crappy car, and eating crappy food, the politicians should be required to fill in the little remaining gaps of time with activities that would normally occur in such a lifestyle. For instance, driving to bail out a friend from jail, driving to a friend or relative's house, or place of work, or the side of the highway to give them some gas, or gas money. Fixing things, either around the house, or in neighbor's houses, or relative's houses. Possibly having a hobby. Spending some time with people you don't like all that much, but you tolerate, because they either work with you, are your boss, or live around the corner, and there isn't anyome else around. Drinking, being broke and not being able to drink, hanging out with friends and playing video games, engaging in any number of illegal activities which may or may not be done willingly. Speeding to work, for example, because your alarm clock doesn't work, or because you forgot your cell phone, or you were hung over, because you got drunk last night, after you had to deal with any number of stressful situations...
Dealing with multiple stressful situations must also be a part of this intense training. Here's one: Car breaks down on the side of the highway, you have no gas can, and no cell phone. You must walk, hitch hike or whatever, and get your car back to safety, before it's towed, because it's not currently inspected. You can't call for security to pick you up, there isn't any security when you are poor. Here's another: Not fixing something because you can't afford to fix it right now, this could cover all sorts of different problems: for instance not fixing your leaky roof because you don't have any shingles, or not fixing your car's brakes because you just fixed the roof last week, or not going to the doctor when you are sick, because you can't afford it. Maybe we shouldn't do the $700 billion dollar bailout for Wall Street. After all, the government is just deciding whether or not we should do it, they aren't going to pay for it, we are! Finally: Do all of the normal day to day stuff I just mentioned, while there is news that a tornado, or hurricane is coming, or one just passed through town, and now you don't have a job, or a place of work, or a car, maybe not even a home. The tornado / hurricane is a bit far fetched, but hey, you're living in a trailer park, it could happen! Hey wait, it just did! Maybe some of those folks might like some help from a politician or two!
The fact of the matter is, that the rich, politicians etc, and even some of the middle class, and the poor all live in their respective vaccuums. They usually have little or no interaction with the other classes, and consequently they have very little realistic knowledge of the other classes. For instance, a relatively poor person might work as a housekeeper, or a groundskeeper for a very wealthy person, and might see them on a day to day basis, but the poor person, and the rich person still do not interact that much. "Cut the grass" "Si, senor" "Here's some left overs for you and your family" "Mucho Gracias, senor" They still pay Jose, but that's it. They won't invite him for dinner, or ask him how he's doing financially, or ask him if he's putting money away for retirement, or how he is dealing with the high price of gas. Likewise, Jose will come home and laugh at how Mr. Johnson seems to have no clue about any of these things. He can't understand why Mr. Johnson doesn't cut his own grass, or make his own beds, or whatever. They see how the other half lives only to an extent. Meanwhile Mr. Johnson figures that he would rather pay someone $20 to cut his grass, than waste the 1 1/2 hours it would take him, which he can in turn use for doing 1 1 /2 hours of work, for which he gets paid, let's say, $50. He sees a time is money issue. It is. For everyone. He just has more of it.
The big picture is part of the problem. There is the short term, versus long term issue. Rich people often think long term. They have long term investments. They can afford to put some money away and sit on it for 30 years, and then spend it bit by bit for retirement. They may actually be able to retire. Poor people can't do that. They don't think long term. They get some money, and it's spent before they have a chance to divvy it up, and save some of it. I'm not dirt poor, but I still have a hard time saving a lot of money. I do know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck, or at least be only 2 paychecks ahead of abject poverty. The rich don't know that. They have stable jobs. The poor don't. Granted, these are all generalisations, and are not meant to be interpreted as fact for every person. There are exceptions to all rules, but I'm pretty sure that most of this is right. The poor think short term. They get a car, it breaks down. They fix it. It's a gas guzzler, they put only half a tank in it. If they could just see long term, they might see that they would spend less money, if they invested in a more economical car in the first place, rather than spending more time, money, etc. on gas, fixing the old jalopy etc. But it's often hard to see that when you are just trying to make ends meet. Sometimes you can only make the minimum payment on whatever bill comes through the mailbox. Sometimes you have to use a credit card because you don't have enough money in your checking account to fix your car, or your water heater, or your siding that is falling off your trailer, or name the problem, we've had them all.
Politicians should have training camp. It should be mandatory for them. Just like boot camp for every soldier. Or like a strange episode of Survivor, or some reality show, it could be broadcast each week by webcam in the trailer, and the car, and at the menial job, as a way for the American people to decide who is best suited to run their country! They should be made to live in a trailer for a month. I'll be nice, and say it can be a double wide, with a nice corner lot, after all, this scenario will never happen, so we might as well make it a nice scenario. While there, they should be made to work at a local job, something extremely menial: maybe cook, waitress, landscaper, carpenter or guy who just got laid off, and only has 1 weeks pay in his bank account before other guys start coming to take his stuff. During this month they should be made to drive a shitty car. One that breaks down regularly, or at least once during each month that it is used for training. It should not be good on gas, and if it is, should be over 15 years old, and have serious problems, that can't be fixed with the money that is available for the month, regardless of how much overtime you work. Along with the
Along with just living at the trailer, and working a crappy job, driving a crappy car, and eating crappy food, the politicians should be required to fill in the little remaining gaps of time with activities that would normally occur in such a lifestyle. For instance, driving to bail out a friend from jail, driving to a friend or relative's house, or place of work, or the side of the highway to give them some gas, or gas money. Fixing things, either around the house, or in neighbor's houses, or relative's houses. Possibly having a hobby. Spending some time with people you don't like all that much, but you tolerate, because they either work with you, are your boss, or live around the corner, and there isn't anyome else around. Drinking, being broke and not being able to drink, hanging out with friends and playing video games, engaging in any number of illegal activities which may or may not be done willingly. Speeding to work, for example, because your alarm clock doesn't work, or because you forgot your cell phone, or you were hung over, because you got drunk last night, after you had to deal with any number of stressful situations...
Dealing with multiple stressful situations must also be a part of this intense training. Here's one: Car breaks down on the side of the highway, you have no gas can, and no cell phone. You must walk, hitch hike or whatever, and get your car back to safety, before it's towed, because it's not currently inspected. You can't call for security to pick you up, there isn't any security when you are poor. Here's another: Not fixing something because you can't afford to fix it right now, this could cover all sorts of different problems: for instance not fixing your leaky roof because you don't have any shingles, or not fixing your car's brakes because you just fixed the roof last week, or not going to the doctor when you are sick, because you can't afford it. Maybe we shouldn't do the $700 billion dollar bailout for Wall Street. After all, the government is just deciding whether or not we should do it, they aren't going to pay for it, we are! Finally: Do all of the normal day to day stuff I just mentioned, while there is news that a tornado, or hurricane is coming, or one just passed through town, and now you don't have a job, or a place of work, or a car, maybe not even a home. The tornado / hurricane is a bit far fetched, but hey, you're living in a trailer park, it could happen! Hey wait, it just did! Maybe some of those folks might like some help from a politician or two!
