You can't allow yourself too much hope or happiness when you live in poverty. The idea things might get better is ludicrous, and to forget this is dangerous. There is always something demanding your resources and reminding you that you are certainly no better than you ought to be. There is always something that makes sure you stay right where you belong. If you live this life, then you belong at the bottom. If you dare forget, than you will be reminded.
Unfortunately, this isn't just an adult thing. I see this in my kids' interactions with their acquaintances. Any small spark of joy is quickly extinguished by kids who know that money does buy happiness and friends. Poor kids who work hard are derided by peers until they are securely left with no illusion of worth or value. To train or study hard, to invest time because they do not have the ability to invest money is nothing, because as kids living in poverty, they are nothing. They have no hope of winning friends because they have worked hard. They can only see that their peers despise them all the more when a leader or teacher draws attention to the results of their efforts.
So we put little hopes and accomplishments away. There isn't room for them in the daily life of scrabbling to survive. We teach our children to do the same. Because hope and happiness isn't for the poor. And hard work just means we think we might deserve something more than what we have.
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