Community Cafe: A Short Story

February 9th was not the first time I had been to the Community Café. I faintly remember volunteering there when I was younger with my church. Although it has been a very long time since I had been there, my initial feeling was the same as last time. I was a little uncomfortable and feeling pretty guilty. I started thinking about things I complain about, while these people are here for a decent meal. I have struggled, but not like this. I have a warm place to live; I am well fed, and have a good support system. I tried to really pay attention to my initial reactions. I was surprised to note that the stigma that our society creates was with me, and I was ashamed of that. A woman was coughing quite excessively and the first thing that came …show more content…
This was a real life example of how it is much harder to get out of poverty if you are born into it. This isn’t something that you can always just apply yourself to get out of. You can work really hard and still not get where you want to be. If you are raised in a poverty stricken family, you are not going to have the same opportunities as someone whose family makes 6 figures. It is easier for someone who inherits a lot of money to become rich and successful, because they are already rich. A person in poverty has to work extremely hard, even harder than a wealthy person, and still may never make it to the same …show more content…
If people have to work ridiculously hard to get nowhere, they are going to burn out. They will eventually feel helpless, or that they can’t get anywhere, anyone would. Having to meet these excessive standards to get ahead is one of the reasons people stay in poverty and why it grows. Rich politicians have an affect too. We have politicians that want to cut social safety net programs and continue tax cuts for the wealthy, which won’t help anyone but the wealthy, who quite frankly don’t need it. How do you expect anyone to get out of poverty if you cut the mediocre care that already isn’t working even