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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote] It still isn't a life I would want to have but it is far from the grinding poverty of a third world country.[/quote]

In the sense that there are no open sewers, I suppose you're right. But it is far from the life that my grandmother and her siblings had... and they grew up picking cotton in California's Central Valley. And yet... every one of them was able to go to college and prosper there because the high school in their poor farm town actually taught them well.

So, you may ask--did my grandmother become rich? Did she live the American dream?

Not really. She raised three kids with a husband in the merchant marine (before he died) and they were still pretty damn poor. But they read a lot of books. And being poor was not a crime then. It still isn't. It is not even a moral failing, despite the fact that so many of you seem hell bent on making it one.[/quote]

My husband is from a third-world country. He has frail bones and teeth that sometimes break off (despite being in his 30s) because he was so severely malnourished as a child.

His family lived in a tin shack and it would get so hot inside that they had to spend most of the day outside. Everyone he knew had worms.

And yet, he came here as a minority refugee, his parents worked super hard (2-3 jobs at a time EACH) and put him and his 3 siblings through school. He got a scholarship to a small college, a scholarship to a better grad school, and now he's a professional and supports his parents.

I sort of scratch my head when AAs claim that there's no way to overcome the poverty and lack of opportunities. Of course there is. But I do feel super strongly that we need to be using tax money to support parents, daycares, preschools, schools, fund school lunches, etc. No one should have to have it as hard as my husband did. But I do also think everyone should be trying hard, it's not fair when people start feeling entitled to advantages.[/quote]

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