I spent the first 21 years of my life living in poverty and prevailed! I grew up in the South during a turbulent time in history. Segregated state and local law controlled where we could live, where we could go, and prevented my parents from obtaining meaningful employment. Civil rights activists effectively protested against these injustices. These brave warriors were beaten, jailed and lost their lives for equal rights in the United States of America. I refuse to let them down by not doing my part. The first step out of poverty is to make it easier for all people to succeed. The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 gave everyone equal chances at jobs and housing. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed practices like poll taxes and literacy tests. Years ago, my pastor preached a sermon “Don’t Allow Your Yesterdays to Have Control over Your Tomorrows.” This sermon reminded me that we can’t control our past but we can make changes in our lives going forward. As an adult, I have a personal responsibility to improve my life!
Prior to retiring, I spent the last 13 years of my professional career working for innovative managed care organizations responsible for managing the medical care of the under-served population across Tennessee. I was part of a team of dedicated professionals who were committed to help people live healthier lives. The majority of the clients we were privileged to serve was living in poverty and resided in all 95 counties in the state. I got to know the people, their stories, their hopes and their dreams. This population of people may have inability to access healthcare, access to resources, and encounter other disparities because of race, religion, language and social status. They were no different from many other people working in the organization that grew up poor and prevailed. We became their voices in a corporate world!
Even while living poverty; my goal was to get out and remain out. It was important for me to know my history and my truth. We all have a past; we remember it, learn from it but don’t live in it. The truth cleanses the soul and opens up space for new adventures. I have a future story! In my blog, From Absolute Poverty to Absolute Joy, I shared part of my life in poverty and my pathways to success. I learned that a few people can negatively or positively influence a large number of people. I had to learn to choose to look for positive influencers and later become a positive influencer.
I am an avid reader and researched many articles about poverty. This led to many opinions, questions and few answers. I shared in my blog that when I was a child, I asked my mother why we were poor. Her response was “Who Told You We Are Poor? It’s in your mind!” My parents didn’t have a poverty mindset or mentality. In spite of segregationist and unjust laws, when growing up, my parents had a stable family unit and they provided my siblings and me with this stability. Attitudes and behavior matter. While living in poverty, my parents taught us how to look at poverty from a different perspective. We had a temporary cash flow problem. They taught us to focus on what we had, instead of what we didn’t have. It was difficult while living without basic necessities but not impossible. We learned to prevail over poverty. When I got older, I understood that poverty was not only an economic state but a mentality. I learned to change my mindset so my thoughts and actions did not align with poverty. This was essential to remain out of poverty.
As a responsible adult, I had to take the steps to get out of poverty and remain out of poverty. We have the power to prevail over poverty! When we prevail, we are powerful and victorious! You have to believe that you can change negative habits or ways of thinking into positive ones. As long as basic needs are met, and we have equal rights, in many situations, a contented person may feel wealthy and empowered to resist the “want more” urge. We must undertake strong measures to change poverty inducing behaviors and resist passing these behaviors to the next generation.
We must think about our future story, the future story of the next generation, and prevail over poverty!
The views stated in these articles are personal to the writer and does not represent the views or opinions of any company or organization with which the writer is or was associated.
Copyright © 2020 Francie Mae’s Journey