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Cloud_Disconnected t1_j5psahy wrote

Reply to comment by GimmeAMalt in This is for friends and neighbors. by [deleted]

That is absolutely true.

It's also true that sometimes people without means are put in a position of having to choose between a bad option and a worse option.

A) Drive to work on bad tires in the snow and put themselves and others at risk.

B) Stay home, lose their job, lose their home, sleep on public land, go to jail.

C) Stay home, lose their job, steal catalytic converters to pay rent.

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Fuselol t1_j5py3cp wrote

D) ride the bus

E) have coworker/employer/friend/family pick you up

F) Uber/lyft/taxi

Snows here don’t last long at all, so none of these would likely be used more than once.

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Cloud_Disconnected t1_j5q29jz wrote

> D) ride the bus

If you live and work near a bus route, and if it runs at the times you need.

> E) have coworker/employer/friend/family pick you up

If they are available.

> F) Uber/lyft/taxi

If you can afford it.

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Fuselol t1_j5qxhmi wrote

I get it, excuses are easy.

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Cloud_Disconnected t1_j5r5vxn wrote

Just like telling people how to live their lives when you don't know their circumstances.

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Fuselol t1_j5r6xoo wrote

Who’s telling someone how to live their lives? People have options and freedom to do what they want. You gave 3 options where one is unsafe, one involved jail time, and one involved a life of theft. Empowerment am I right? There’s better options than that what you’re providing.

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Cloud_Disconnected t1_j5r9zdx wrote

>People have options and freedom to do what they want.

Being poor reduces your options, and often the options you have left all suck.

> There’s better options than that what you’re providing.

Of course. I wasn't trying to provide an exhaustive list of all the available options, I was making the point that sometimes people don't have better options.

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Fuselol t1_j5re52b wrote

Being poor reduces your options, yes. Making excuses isn’t an option when you’re that limited.

From the exhaustive list you could have made you pointed out the least viable/productive, makes sense. You’re the voice of doubt that no one needs in their life. Good luck to anyone around you.

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Cloud_Disconnected t1_j5rj0uw wrote

> From the exhaustive list you could have made you pointed out the least viable/productive, makes sense.

Yes. I assumed that the reader would take the examples you gave as implicit and not viable for the reasons I later explained. This credit I extended to the reader was clearly not warranted in all cases, as you have shown.

And good luck to you, should you ever find yourself in adverse circumstances. I hope those around you will show more understanding and compassion to you than you seem to show to others in the case that you might have to make the sort of difficult decisions many people face every day.

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Fuselol t1_j5s18ss wrote

I was in said circumstances for the majority of my life. It’s how I’ve formed my opinions.

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Cloud_Disconnected t1_j5s68uo wrote

As was I. I try to treat people the way I wish I had been treated. That's not to say you don't. For all I know you responded to the bootstraps mentality favorably, and so that's what you believe is helpful to other people.

Don't think that I'm saying that people aren't accountable for their choices. If someone can make a better choice, they should. But sometimes they can't.

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