30 days- social class

This week, in sociology class, we watched an episode of 30 days. In this episode, Morgan tried living a lifestyle from paycheck to paycheck with his fiancée. They left their rich lifestyle behind, and they tried to make it by for 30 days. During the 30 days, Morgan and his fiancée had to get by with the worst living conditions and pay. They were injured several times. Morgan had hurt his wrist, and he had to attend the doctors office, and his fiancée had gotten an urinary tract infection. Since she couldn't afford to pay for the doctors appointment, she had to get by on medication at the local pharmacy. The house they had to live in was in a dangerous neighborhood, and it was infested with ants. They had horrible jobs, so they were getting even less than minimum wage. However, even though Morgan and his fiancée were white with a good education, they couldn't get by even under their good circumstances. I started wondering how hard it would be for someone without an education that was a minority to get by living from paycheck to paycheck. We also watched "people like us," which is a documentary about social class. One of the families, in the documentary, was living in a trailer. The mother had around four children, and one of her sons wanted people to think he was educated. He seemed like he was very embarrassed to be living in such horrible conditions. There was one clip that showed his mom, and she was saying how her son thought he was better than their family. She wasn't supportive of her son, so the son was probably going to end up in poverty as well. However, they showed a clip of another girl, with divorced parents, who grew up in poverty. She had grown up on a farm, in poverty, but she grew up to be very successful. When she was being interviewed with her mom, her mom seemed to be very supportive, and they were proud of her for not having to live in poverty. It was amazing to see the difference the parents had on these two children, who grew up in poverty. Everybody thinks that just because you grow up in poverty, you will stay in poverty; however, the girl with the supportive parents proves that wrong. She showed that all you needed was hard work, and supportive parents. After watching that documentary, I realized the importance of having a strong support system. Looking back, I realize that I never could've been who I am today if my family hadn't been there every step of the way.