I was sitting and reading this piece over Highland Park (the city in Illinois). Apparently, someone in the city gov't had this idea.
They wanted the public there (30k residents) to get some idea about poverty. No one says why this was necessary.....just that they could 'teach' you.
So a “poverty simulation event” was arranged where well-off people (don't know how they figured the dividing line)....would get some play-action to pretend being poor for 2.5 hours.
Then the story goes....this was to be done at some local well-to-do country club.
Now, I'm from the rural region of Alabama and will admit that I've never been to a country club. I did work with a lady in the 1990s, and she would get into these discussions about her growing up in Ohio, and her family had some membership in a country club (primarily for golf reasons). So I have an idea how they function.
Looking over this....I don't really grasp how 2.5 man-hours can be spent....pretending to be poor. I'd probably show up at the event and order a $14 cocktail right before I entered the poverty-room.
I'd mingle with other folks from the club....occasionally sneaking back out to freshen up my cocktail (three or four times). By the end of the 2.5 hours.....I probably wouldn't remember that much.
The problem with this silly game is that you end up with stupid city management people (an IQ of 80 or below but they have a college degree).....who are engaging you to be as stupid as they are.
Without a drink, I probably would have engaged in this, and told each poverty person....lets get ahead. There's work over at such-and-such place, and we can work a second-shift at the hammer-factory. I'd show them the light of work, money and missing out on poverty.
Yeah, I would have been kicked out of the poverty pretend-stuff, and the club might have suspended me for 7 days for bad-boy behavior.
Here in the end of my summary....I just kinda wonder....how many people did show up for the poverty pretend deal at the country club? Five.....ten?
