good poor, bad poor

Recovery: the recovering of

self-reliance, dignity, self-sufficiency

and

turning rage

outward – away from oneself,

toward whatever is

actually in need of

dissection

…

In the last post I wanted to record my visceral reaction to the women’s shelter.

But obviously there is a method to the mayhem there – it is not fundamental idiocy ruling things. Maybe it’s more of a wide-open hope that the tentative steps toward ‘recovery’ are:

a roof

a reliable source of food, safety, comfort

and stability (ie. a place to go with the above guaranteed to bet there).

Is it better to have a drug-addicted woman or a sex-trade worker sleeping on the street? or having a place to go even if they can’t always behave?

From a worker standpoint, of course when confronted with shrieked insults, puke, or sodden maxi-pads the reaction is WHY THE HELL WERE ANY OF US EVER BORN?

But as a thinking human who has been very poor herself (if not that poor): it is self-serving to operate under the idea that there is “good poor” and “bad poor.”