"Go Out Into the Hedges and Highways"
One
Tuesday morning I woke up a 36 year old African American woman and 4 hours
later became a 75 year old white male. How? I participated in training on
poverty. I quickly settled into my new identity because I had a new life to
live and I had to survive in my new reality. I was asked to leave my true
identity at the door and mentally become another person. The requirement to
take on a new identity was part of the rules of engagement for this poverty
simulation. We had to put ourselves in the place of real people. We had to live
their reality. We had to endure the struggles they encountered daily just to
meet our basic needs. We spent our "days" and "weeks" going
from one place to another trying to care for our family. Our
community was comprised of businesses, community agencies, and a place of
worship. When the whistle blew in the room it began and ended our day. It was organized
chaos. It was a room full of people frantically moving about to pay their
bills, goi…
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