The Social Growth of the Young in Different Classes - a Youth in Poverty

The social growth of the young in different classes

A Youth in Poverty

To most, it's very easy to imagine how it would feel to grow up without much of anything in life. Hell...I can tell you first hand what it feels like to not have a decent pair of shoes or pants without holes in them, or old "hand-me-down" toys while most of the kids you know have "state-of-the-art" toys. To many children in this kind of situation, it seems like a very bleak world to live in. No child should ever have to experience this kind of life. However, due to ignorant parents and an even more jacked-up government, there are many children that will always be in this predicament.

Now, it would be hard to think of any good coming out of living in such conditions. But just like a many things in this so-called existence, a person would have to look very hard to find the good things. There are, in fact, good things about living in the pits of poverty. For instance, children that are poor tend to appreciate things much more than a child with a more "privileged" life. When they get new things, they treat those things like intricately wrought gold, or a fine work of art. To them, a brand-new pair of 'Jordan' gym shoes or a 'PS2' seems like pure treasure. Over time, this quality of appreciation will develop continually over the years. They will make responsible choices on things that they will always appreciate. With hope and a prayer, they will be able to pass down this quality to their future generations.

Another good quality that poor children have is their ability to socialize. When you are poor, you have little room to fear embarrassment. If you're embarrassed about meeting new people or talking in front of a crowd, they you may as well be embarrassed with everything else in you life of poverty. Being poor is humiliating enough....being scared to talk is nothing compared to that. A kid that has just about nothing in life will hope to make as many new friends as they possibly can. Possibly so that they can fill in the little void they are likely to grow out of having so little. They are very assertive, and will do anything for attention. Jokes, stories, comments, and the sacred art of "Blazing" or "Baking" are the tools that poor children will use for socialization.

Possibly the most rewarding thing a child can get out of being poor is a strong sense of work ethic. Parents are always telling their kids to, "Appreciate hard work." But this lesson is more profound in the poor. A parent that has lived in poverty all their life will tell their child to, "Always work hard, and never settle for less. Don't let your kids go through what I made you go through." With this lesson at heart, a child will likely work hard at everything they do in life. This can expand to getting good grades in school, working hard at their chores, and doing good work whenever they get a job. This is a priceless lesson that children in poverty can keep close in mind.

Now, there are many, many, many bad things about living in poverty. I can easily write a 20-page paper on the bad things the most poor kids have to go through. But I'm only going to list the one thing that I feel is going to rip most people apart at the seams. This risk goes for all classes, but is most common in poor people. This potential threat is nothing more than jealousy.

A person that says they never felt jealousy is lying thought their teeth. Even God-Almighty gets jealous when he feels that someone thinks they are better than He is. Otherwise, he would not have flooded the Earth in Noah's time or tortured the Egyptians in Moses' time. My point is that all people get jealous at times, and all get jealous for different reasons. But in poor people, the jealousy is most likely to sprout from a single thought: "Why can't I have what they have?!"

This train of thought can make a seemingly harmless little boy, into a sneaky, conniving thief that will do anything necessary to get what they desire. The boy may look to one of his fellow classmates are see them with a new pair of shoes, or see them talking on the newest model cell phone. And that one glorious thought will go through their mind; "Why can't I have what he has?"

But this thought can make another, more dangerous thought come to mind; "What can I do to get what he has??" The answer is not likely to be a good one. A poor boy desperate for fancier things in life will not go about doing things the honest way...on the contrary, they will do whatever it takes as long as it's easy to get away with. They might steal the item from the kid they seen it with by being sneaky, for though more violent means like "jumping" the boy. Or they might not take the item from the kid. ((It would look funny if he lost his, and you got the same one he just lost.)) The poor boy might go the store and steal one for himself. This may seem easy....but now he runs the risk of getting caught, arrested, and one strike on their record. The boy is likely to give himself his ultimate demise due to his envy of other children...and all because he feels that he can't have better things in life.

Conclusion Time!!: There are both good and bad things about being poor.....and it's really hard to determine which quality outweighs the other. Most kids are bound to think of all the bad they went through in their lives of poverty, seeing as they are so young and unable to look at things in a much wider perspective. But just like buried treasure, they will just have to dig deep enough to find the potential good in the "poor life". Take me for instance; if I were to give into the sadness and despair of being poor, I would have come to MY ultimate demise a long time ago.

A Middle-Class Youth

It's really hard to classify the struggles that a youth of the middle class would have to go through. They have little room to complain, seeing as they have most of the common comforts life has to offer. A nice home, food on a regular basis, good medical care, and a decent school to attend. And even if they are not able to get everything they want like toys, clothes and games, they have everything they need to keep them happy. It's obviously foolish to say that a youth in the middle class would want a more wealthier lifestyle. So I now go directly to the worse things about living in the middle class as a youth.

A middle class youth, in my opinion, is nothing more that a living lump of clay. They are easily molded by those that wish to control