There Are No Poor College Students

I've been struggling with how to approach this post. I keep finding ways to disagree with what I've written and the ideas I'm promoting, but that's part of learning. It requires making mistakes and admitting when I'm wrong. When I stop my free-flowing thoughts, I stop thinking and I stop learning entirely. So here it is.

"I mean, things are so good out here. I hear people complain all the time. And I think a huge part of just being happy is being appreciative. I didn’t appreciate anything. This is so cliche, but when I had all the money in the world, I was miserable. But when I got out with nothing, I was happier in prison with nothing than I was with two or $3 million prior to prison, and I’m dating a chick I never should’ve been dating, driving a sports car, vacationing all over the world, miserable. I’m crying, driving away from prison because I already miss my friends. You could’ve never told me that was going to happen."

- Mathew Cox, Lex Fridman Podcast, E409 05:56:46

I'm a college student, so I spend a lot of time with other college students. Around two years ago I was taking a class that wasn't taught by a professor (I've taken many classes not taught by professors and they have been some of my favorite). This teacher was an older woman and one day, in response to a question, a student told the woman, "Because we are poor college students." The woman then said something that I've been thinking about for the last two years-- 

"There are no poor college students."

Now I understand what this student is trying to say. They are trying to say, "because we are broke college students", but our society has become one of such extreme prosperity that exaggeration is the only way to retain phrases that no longer apply. I'm starving, I'm dying of thirst, I'm going to freeze to death, etc. Poverty is associated with a lack of money and now a lack of money is being associated with poverty.

I want to dissociate the concept of poverty from financial status. One's financial status may lead to a poor life, but being broke is not the same thing as being poor. I want to address the idea of a "poor life" versus a "rich life".

How would I define poverty? When someone is living danger, either physically or emotionally, consistently. Some things I would consider poverty: malnutrition, forced labor, domestic violence, terminal illness, and mental illness. I'm talking about someone who is being deprived of an enjoyable life.

While I disagree with the phrase "Poor college students", I understand that it's mostly people just complaining. They know that experiencing a college education is not poverty, although I've had debates with some people who believe it in fact poverty. Maybe this is why college loan forgiveness is so popular; we believe we will be taking people out of poverty (and they will be rich!). But I don't think it's healthy for a person who isn't poor to believe they are poor. Here are several reasons why:

1. Spending one's days unhappy for not a good reason (self-inflicted suffering).

2. Disconnecting oneself from reality (delusion).

3. Spending one's days chasing something they already have (misdirection).

4. As a society, forgetting that real poverty exists and ultimately leaving people behind (ignorance).

Complaining feels great. It allows us to throw uncomfortable feelings (and realities) out the 2nd story window. But I think if you say something to yourself, while everyone is agreeing with you, and those in authority are repeating it back to you, you might just start to believe it. I wish that professors would stop enabling students with poverty centered rhetoric.

I've reframed my mind so far on this in the last two years, I can't in good faith say the words, "I'm poor." I can't say it. I'm broke-- that one is easy to believe and say because it's a true statement. But I would be lying if I said I've had anything other than a truly exceptional and wonderful life up to this day. If I died today, I would die happy.

It's not about relativism either. I hear that a lot in college as well. "At least I'm above average." "At least I'm not the lowest score." While these might be true statements, I don't think they are valid arguments for why someone should be grateful. This gratefulness is based on someone else's misfortune. I wonder if any child slaves say, "Hey, at least I'm not a slave in the cobalt mine." Maybe they say it, but I don't know if they should be grateful for it. Maybe if all you knew was the mine, you would be grateful for the mine. This post isn't really about those people though. It's about people living rich lives, pretending they are poor.

To people living poor lives-- that isn't really a life I can speak to for my part. Lives devoid of meaning, happiness, and love.  If you are one of those people, I don't have the answers. I don't know why there are human experiences so vastly different than my own, but I'm sorry. And I hope to one day reconcile the extreme unknowing that lies within me.