Bob Warring: Paying attention to poverty

I'm not supposed to be here.

College has never been a viable option for my family; I'll be the first Warring to graduate. I didn't attend a posh pre-school, followed by private school; I went to Head Start, then public school. My parents aren't professionals; they're working-class. My family has never put together anything close to a six-figure salary; instead, for over half my life we hovered around some mysterious "poverty line" -- whatever that is supposed to mean.

But, still, I'm here.

I'm proud of my background, and I don't play the "poor card" often -- although I don't quite understand why it must be social taboo for the poor to point out what everybody else must already realize: that poverty does, in fact, make one's life more difficult (fear of a proletarian revolution, no doubt).

Nor do I mention my upbringing to garner any kind of popular sympathy for myself. I'm not sure how much there is to be had, and I've always been way too proud to take it anyway. At any rate, such attempts would be parasitic and insincere. Poverty -- or at least its tangible effects -- is behind me, and, with a Penn degree, it hopefully always will be. My family and I are now part of the "lower-middle class," although I'm not sure what that means, either (I think it indicates to us that we have no business getting involved in proletarian affairs).

My problem isn't with people failing to appreciate my uphill path to Penn. It's how they interpret it.

When people learn of such success stories -- mine or otherwise -- most tend to go to bed that night complacently musing that the American dream still thrives. Such stories, like a symbolic village bell, toll a comforting "all is well." Faith in the cosmos, and our system, is restored. As they finally doze off, one last peaceful thought crosses their mind: "What a great story. I just don't see why, if this guy could do it, more people in that situation don't?"

Such conclusions have much in the way of ignorance and judgment -- a perilous tandem -- but little in the way of real thought or compassion. By being callous toward the difficulties surrounding such things as, for instance, economic disadvantage, proponents of this type of thought ultimately undermine the American dream that they believe they are reaffirming. Simple "I-just-don't-understand" logic is neither understanding nor logical. Instead, it is merely a reassertion of one's own superiority and a justification of the system that places them above this outgroup, whether the thinker consciously realizes it or not.

Dismissal is typical of this school of thought. I've always been wary of people who speak of "the inexorable drive of the human spirit" or of the need for certain groups of people to "just get it together." Generally, someone who says this has never had to fight for anything.

There is in fact a reason that such stories of adversity overcome are noteworthy and, on occasion, newsworthy: rather than the norm, they are the exception.

When we learn of individuals who have prevailed against poverty and a system that perpetuates it, our response should indeed be one that questions why others haven't, but our tone should be different.

Rather than arrogantly reaffirming our own hegemony, and implying that those that can't rise above their circumstances in the way we expect of them are "lazy" or "immoral," we should instead take the opportunity to critically look at the factors associated with poverty that continue to make rising above it "a story."

When our understanding comes around, policy will follow. When we look to empathize rather than judge programs like affirmative action -- along socio-economic, racial and gender lines -- and programs that redistribute wealth in other ways will gain greater support.

We must always remember that American capitalism is predicated on equal opportunity and fair-play competition. When we don't have a level playing field, we are living in a morally-bankrupt system. Don't take that lightly. Bob Warring is a senior History and English major from Hanover, PA.

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