Originally Posted by waitingtables

If it were that easy, fx, why doesn't everyone manage to get out? My way of getting out really didn't have much to do with me. My mother overdosed and died and I had to move in with my grandparents, who didn't live in the ghetto, though they were definitely on the lower end of the economic scale. I moved from Virginia to New Jersey. I just managed to stay out of the projects by working hard and understanding that I would rather be free and not involved in the system. I didn't enjoy being on welfare and living in the projects. I didn't enjoy feeling like I was less of a person because of where and who I came from. You also have to remember that when children are neglected and hungry, they aren't able to develop cognitively in the same manner as children who are well fed and cared for. Not everyone grows up with great role models, or adequate nourishment, or any kind of actual adult support and attention, except possibly some very negative experiences by the ones supposedly caring for them. Nothing is cut and dry, and poverty would not exist if it were so easy to overcome it.