Choosing to be poor

You might wonder why I decided to give up my income from quilting at a time when the economy has taken a nose dive off a cliff.

So let me tell you a story to explain my feelings on the matter.

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One day a very wealthy man decided to take his son on a trip to the country so he could show the son how poor people lived.

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The two spent a couple of days living with a family on their farm. It was what many people considered very poor people.

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On the return trip home the father asked his son; "How did you like the trip?"

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"It was great Dad."

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"Did you see how the poor people can be?" the father asked.

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"Oh yeah."

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" So what did you learn from the trip?" the father asked.

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The son answered....

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I saw that we have one dog and they have four.

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We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.

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We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

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Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

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We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

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We have servants to serve us but they serve others.

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We have big screen tvs and video games for entertainment but they have story telling and craft making.

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We buy our food but they grow theirs.

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We have walls around our property to protect us but they have friends to protect them.

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The boy's father was speechless. Then the boy added "Thanks Dad for showing my how really poor we are."

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This story sort of sums up how I feel. For a long time I had been complaining to my daughter that I was much happier in the days when we struggled just to have food on the table, keep a roof over our heads, and clothes on our backs. I got great satisfaction from creating things out of something others simply threw away. A bag full of clothes pulled from a dumpster was a wealth of ideas for me. What couldn't be remade (re purposed) into our clothing was made into quilts or rugs to be traded for things I could neither make nor purchase. I had a glad heart while doing it.

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Sure, there were frustrating times when the utilities got turned off for months at a time but it didn't stop us from eating or being entertained. If I couldn't use the sewing machine I stitched by hand. We lived through those times much like the pioneers did. Oil lamps gave us light and food was cooked on a grill. We pretended it was a campfire.

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I was never what you could call financially well off during my quilting career but giving up that income is a choice I gladly made. Not long ago I heard a news story about the economy creating the newly food stamp poor. Food stamp poor? Meaning that more people than ever before are being forced to resort to food stamps to survive. Another news story told of a couple experimenting to see if they could live on $1 a day for food just like the food stamp poor. The couple nearly starved because they didn't have a clue how to live on food stamps. Oh how I could teach them a thing or two! Food stamps also buy seeds. Seeds grow and make food to eat.

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I want those visiting my blog to understand.... what I write here is intended to show that survival IS possible even for the newly food stamp poor as well as those who CHOOSE to be poor. The best way to write a good blog is from experience. To write it well I want to live the way I tell others is possible.

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I'm thinking of doing an experiment of my own. Right now I'm only thinking. I'll let you know about it as soon as I work out some details and finish up the last of the quilts for this year.

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Enough for now.