Last edited Wed Sep 5, 2012, 10:49 AM - Edit history (1)
I come from a poor, working-class background, the first to go to college (worked my way through with loans and grants), and am struggling to hold on to the modest middle class life my wife and I are providing our three kids.
I'm not interested in being rich, I just want to earn an honest and fair income (doing meaningful work) that helps us maintain the quality of our lives and that provides enough of a cushion where we're not sweating it week to week paying bills.
I'm concerned about the world my children are going to inherit. I've struggled hard to help give them a better childhood than I had (one marked by poverty and dysfunction), but I don't know what the future holds for them...global climate change, a shitty economy, a fracturing nation, unaffordable costs for higher education, etc.
My grandmother didn't finish grade school, was a Rosie the Riveter during WWII, has suffered some terrible setbacks in her life, and yet through her love and hard work, I've had a better life than she ever had. I want to do the same for my children, but I'm not very optimistic at times no matter how hard my wife and I work, especially with the likes of Ryan and Romney pushing their economic snake oil.
I could go on, but I heard so many things in Michelle's story and Castro's story that I, as a white man, could identify with. I know there's a lot of hard work to be done to do anything to translate those stories into political action, but it was refreshing to hear them, nonetheless.
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