We are poor. Not just kinda struggling from paycheck to paycheck, but either eat or pay rent poor.

I have enough education to understand all the societal reasons for poverty and how inevitable it is, but not enough education to really pull us out of it. So we get by as best we can from crisis to crisis with occasional help from well meaning charity things.

I have learned that when it comes to charity, sometimes it really is kindness and sometimes it is a way to dump unwanted stuff on the poor while creating a warm feeling of generosity for the givers. One Christmas I got a $200 gift card to Toys R Us that covered not just the Kid’s Christmas presents but his birthday presents in March too. Another year I got a pile of stained fabric scraps and a dirty winter coat that was 3 sizes too small for the Kid.

The Kid is in a weird spot at school. He is one of the only poor kids in the gifted program, so when it comes time for the annual feel good duties- we’re the top family on the list. This week the Kid came home with a $25 gift card to Safeway (super helpful) and a bag of canned goods.

The canned goods included a can of fruit cocktail, a can of corn, two boxes of mac and cheese and 8, yes 8 cans of green beans. I guess they can live in the cupboard with the remaining cans of refried beans we got from last years canned food dump. I think there are still 4 cans left. If the end times come- does anyone know a campfire recipe for a mixture of green beans and refried beans or should we try to maintain some level of civilization and eat them in separate courses?