wal66
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I made a comment about the area of Alabama and Mississippi that I was traveling through being some of the poorest parts I had ever been too. I may have embellished a tad but it was definitely a poor area.
Im sure if you have traveled much you have seen plenty of poor areas throughout the country. Even though my travels are severely minimal I can say for certain that we have plenty of areas here in Florida that are desperately impoverished as well.
I was spouting off when I made the remark but once I got home I actually did a little research and sure enough Mississippi ranks as the lowest income per capita state in America as recently as the last study done in 2008. Alabama came in only a couple of spots higher, in fact of the lowest 10 states 6 of them are in SEC territory.
To coincide with Mississippi being the poorest not surprisingly the state also is among the lowest in education and highest in pregnancy in all of the U.S. Im sure no-one will be surprised to learn that the southern states as a whole are also the majority of government assistance states in America as well.
Im no authority on the matter but after this weekend and after some of the research I did, I have a theory for this. My theory isnt so much as to why one state is higher or lower than another but more about poverty in general.
Education, motivation, determination and inspiration are crucial parts in my way of thinking. My theory was surmised based on a simple story one of my fellow travelers told as we rode to our golf destination.
Now this person isnt someone I can call a friend. I have known him for years and have played golf with him but that has been where our association has ended. We are not cut from the same cloth nor do we run or live in the same social circles. I am working class through and through and he, well he comes from money and makes plenty of money. Dont get me wrong though, he isnt an uppity sort, not at all he is good people, just rich good people.
He told the story of how when he was wrapping up his college days and would have his degree in business that he was having trouble deciding what he would do with his life. He said his dad sat him down and gave him the best piece of information he ever received. He said his dad told him to go into a business that by law people were required to have. Obviously that business was insurance. Today this guy is a high level associate with Nationwide and makes well over $200k a year.
Now what triggered here for me was not that he makes all this money, it was not that he had a college degree either. The education he received that meant the most here was the guidance his father gave him. He had someone in his life with vision and who was able to persuade his son down the right path. This guy had the determination to want to make a good life for himself and his family to make himself a success at it. The inspiration of a good life was all the motivation he needed.
By in large what happened in this story I just told is missing in many homes across this country. Certainly here in the south we have a severe number of youth growing up in single parent environments, high crime neighborhoods and in many cases social groups of lazy work ethics. When you grow up in this type of environment you either find the inner strength to get up and get out and do something with your life or you settle for the status quo and continue the cycle.
Those who do make something out of themselves often do it elsewhere in other parts of the country so they arent helping put it back where they came from. Those that tend to continue the cycle stay in the area so it doesnt get any better.
There is a whole other psychological aspect as to why the southern states remain impoverished states as well but that has to deal with the Civil War and the sociological and psychological scars that still run deep in both blacks and whites with deep ties to their ancestors of the period.
In both of these situations though I am certain it is more an excuse than an actual belief.
Many blacks today have been told by blacks from yesterday that they are due something for the years and years of oppression. So if you are given this excuse at an early age it has to become very difficult to overcome that way of thinking. If at the same time the government makes it very easy to accept a handout and your mindset is that of you are owed anyway then it almost becomes validated to an extent.
By the same token many whites whos ancestry stems from the Civil War era where told that something was taken from them. That this country was theirs and the northerners took it away. So in a sense here again we have a mindset that something is owed to them as well.
Its a vicious cycle, Its no different than becoming an alcoholic, a drug addict or a criminal really. When you are immersed in a social environment that creates a negative mindset it takes a very strong personality to overcome and rise above. Its one thing when its just the friends you associate with continuing this but when its your whole family history it can practically be an impossible struggle to achieve something more.
So where does it end? When do we as a southern nation change the path we are own? I wish I had an answer to that. I would hope the change could start with creating a different outlook for our children who would carry it on to their children. Thats how it started and its the only way I see it can be changed. How to make that start though is anybodies guess.
Im sure if you have traveled much you have seen plenty of poor areas throughout the country. Even though my travels are severely minimal I can say for certain that we have plenty of areas here in Florida that are desperately impoverished as well.
I was spouting off when I made the remark but once I got home I actually did a little research and sure enough Mississippi ranks as the lowest income per capita state in America as recently as the last study done in 2008. Alabama came in only a couple of spots higher, in fact of the lowest 10 states 6 of them are in SEC territory.
To coincide with Mississippi being the poorest not surprisingly the state also is among the lowest in education and highest in pregnancy in all of the U.S. Im sure no-one will be surprised to learn that the southern states as a whole are also the majority of government assistance states in America as well.
Im no authority on the matter but after this weekend and after some of the research I did, I have a theory for this. My theory isnt so much as to why one state is higher or lower than another but more about poverty in general.
Education, motivation, determination and inspiration are crucial parts in my way of thinking. My theory was surmised based on a simple story one of my fellow travelers told as we rode to our golf destination.
Now this person isnt someone I can call a friend. I have known him for years and have played golf with him but that has been where our association has ended. We are not cut from the same cloth nor do we run or live in the same social circles. I am working class through and through and he, well he comes from money and makes plenty of money. Dont get me wrong though, he isnt an uppity sort, not at all he is good people, just rich good people.
He told the story of how when he was wrapping up his college days and would have his degree in business that he was having trouble deciding what he would do with his life. He said his dad sat him down and gave him the best piece of information he ever received. He said his dad told him to go into a business that by law people were required to have. Obviously that business was insurance. Today this guy is a high level associate with Nationwide and makes well over $200k a year.
Now what triggered here for me was not that he makes all this money, it was not that he had a college degree either. The education he received that meant the most here was the guidance his father gave him. He had someone in his life with vision and who was able to persuade his son down the right path. This guy had the determination to want to make a good life for himself and his family to make himself a success at it. The inspiration of a good life was all the motivation he needed.
By in large what happened in this story I just told is missing in many homes across this country. Certainly here in the south we have a severe number of youth growing up in single parent environments, high crime neighborhoods and in many cases social groups of lazy work ethics. When you grow up in this type of environment you either find the inner strength to get up and get out and do something with your life or you settle for the status quo and continue the cycle.
Those who do make something out of themselves often do it elsewhere in other parts of the country so they arent helping put it back where they came from. Those that tend to continue the cycle stay in the area so it doesnt get any better.
There is a whole other psychological aspect as to why the southern states remain impoverished states as well but that has to deal with the Civil War and the sociological and psychological scars that still run deep in both blacks and whites with deep ties to their ancestors of the period.
In both of these situations though I am certain it is more an excuse than an actual belief.
Many blacks today have been told by blacks from yesterday that they are due something for the years and years of oppression. So if you are given this excuse at an early age it has to become very difficult to overcome that way of thinking. If at the same time the government makes it very easy to accept a handout and your mindset is that of you are owed anyway then it almost becomes validated to an extent.
By the same token many whites whos ancestry stems from the Civil War era where told that something was taken from them. That this country was theirs and the northerners took it away. So in a sense here again we have a mindset that something is owed to them as well.
Its a vicious cycle, Its no different than becoming an alcoholic, a drug addict or a criminal really. When you are immersed in a social environment that creates a negative mindset it takes a very strong personality to overcome and rise above. Its one thing when its just the friends you associate with continuing this but when its your whole family history it can practically be an impossible struggle to achieve something more.
So where does it end? When do we as a southern nation change the path we are own? I wish I had an answer to that. I would hope the change could start with creating a different outlook for our children who would carry it on to their children. Thats how it started and its the only way I see it can be changed. How to make that start though is anybodies guess.
