12 Comments
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Misky's avatar

It twists my stomach, and I’m a lucky one because it’s not from hunger.

Jane Dougherty's avatar

I know what you mean.

FranB's avatar

So sad and sadly so true.

Jane Dougherty's avatar

It’s tough if you’re poor :(

Kerfe's avatar

The rich wouldn't even miss the amount it would take to house and feed everyone.

Jane Dougherty's avatar

I used to wonder why people who were already billionaires wanted to make even more money. How many lifetimes did they think they were going to get to spend it? Was it to ensure their descendants down to the ninth generation would be able to wallow in idle, wasteful ignorance? Some ambition.

Kerfe's avatar

I know...it doesn't make them happy, that's for sure. Nor their descendants.

Jane Dougherty's avatar

It’s hard to imagine how they feel since they have such limited experiences. Defensive probably. As if the proletariat is massing to take their money away from them.

A.P. Murphy's avatar

A sad scene that I've witnessed about a hundred times in various anti-eviction demos. People hobbling on canes, people in wheelchairs, people with young wailing kids, hopeless lonely people with nothing in their eyes. There are plenty of scenes with more grandeur and tragic spectacle, but there's nothing quite so quietly heartbreaking as this commonplace act of mercilessness.

Fantastic writing by the way, well done!

Jane Dougherty's avatar

We had the bailiffs in to throw us out once. We had three kids under seven and a new baby. The owner wanted to ‘reclaim’ the flat. We ended up moving 140kms to find a place where we could afford to live. Not everyone has that possibility. It was touch and go, and I lost my job, but husband was able to work mostly from home.

I think there’s a genetic knee jerk too, at even the mention of eviction.

Thank you xx

Jeanne Vessantra's avatar

Great writing - it almost becomes metaphysical in the way it transforms poverty.

From experience, I think poverty is similar to a state of endless surveillance. It begins to take on a mind of its own, as if it becomes a person.

Jane Dougherty's avatar

Thank you. From the contact I’ve had with it, it creates an invisible barrier with the non-poor. The poor and the homeless are beyond the pale, no one talks to them, they’re barely seen except by social services who go out looking for them. It’s another world of exclusion with its own very tough rules.