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The Sadness We Can't Escape
Classism divides us, and we ignore it because we don't want to acknowledge society's poverty and suffering, but we still feel it.
An older woman told me she was so lonely that she'd prefer to be in jail because at least she'd have people to talk to and eat dinner with. The conversation popped into my head while chatting with friends at a restaurant, and I shrugged it off, trying to forget, but I couldn't. I think about her often.
While speaking to a retired man about his debt, he mentioned I'm the first person who's called him in weeks and explained he skips meals to pay bills. My friend recently refinanced her home to buy an investment property, and I congratulated her, but I don't know why. Purchasing things isn't an achievement or a challenge when you have money.
Sometimes, I share the stories of women who struggle to keep their homes when their husbands leave them in a financial bind, but my friends don't understand. They insist there are laws to protect people and state that they should sell their properties, so I stopped talking to my friends about work.
I visited over two-hundred low-income families in their homes and spoke to hundreds over the phone while researching climate change and energy consumption. Prices and profits…
