Poverty Suit - A creative writing piece considering experiences of Poverty
Introduction:?About the Poverty Suit
Scientists have developed a suit that allows the wearer to experience what old age feels like.??
The suit uses an array of weights, restraints, gloves, goggles and headphones that impart the experience of old age on the wearer.
Imagine if you could put on a suit that allowed the wearer to experience poverty.
What would it feel like?
Poverty Suit
You put on the suit, it's a bit too big for you, a light shade of gray, light in weight, a real flimsy affair.?Looking a bit like someone who has survived a natural disaster in a developing country.?Yet, nobody now gives you a second glance, like your invisible to all and sundry.?
Welcome to the world of poverty,?it's?an equal-opportunity malady, striking across every demographic divide, your pupilage in poverty begins here.?Financial fragility, economic insecurity, monetary stress, whatever you call it,?you're?in it,?it's?a mess.
The voice in my head is back, not again!?It tells me that I care, but being alone, I think who's going to care for me?
Then arrives the post, oh no, it's a brown official looking envelope, this can only be trouble!
They who have the gold make the rules.?Everyone else, they are processed and dealt with like fools.
The single person skipping a meal or two or couples with combined finances lying about a debt or two.
No matter, if married or single, you can't get away, it's with you throughout the night and waiting for you to start your day.
I need to just keep fit and well so I can do the caring for others, that's all that matters.?It can't be left to the system; it can't cope as it is.?I just need to keep going, letting my health conditions get the better of me is not going help the situation.?Got to stay strong it's the only way.
Its degrading and embarrassing having to count your money before you get to the till.?Having to put things back.??
I'm beginning to understand how the worry and strain can impact on mental health, I thought my long-term health conditions, or the money situation would be what let me down, but maybe it's my mind I need to be really worrying about.
Maybe if I eat less, I could save some money for bills.?I could do with losing a bit weight.?Could a poverty diet be what I need???The system may have processed me and my loved one and thrown our prayer for help out, but I'm still lucky, I've not given up.?Imagine being unable to afford to wash, or not knowing where to turn next, or living in a cold and damp dilapidated home.
Luckily, I have found some people who show pity for me, it's great to be able to talk to them, but it's hardly healthy being so reliant on others.?Work was the answer once, but now I'm being punished for those decades of hard work, no entitlement to help for me and mine in our time of need.?Work is the best way out of poverty, the rich and powerful men and women say.?I now view that sentiment as a massive con!
The feeling of economic and financial impotence.?The lack of control.?The constant worry about how it's all going to end.
The Guilt.?The Guilt.?The Guilt.
I'm glad I can take this poverty suit off; I could not imagine living like that all the time.