Poverty today is becoming a big issue in our society. The people most affected by poverty are children. This story is about Tammy Crabtree and her children. She has four children; they live in a small town in Ohio. She has been on welfare for eighteen years and now works at the local Burger King where she walks ten and a half miles from her home to get to work. Tammy’s son feels embarrassed by his family. He is ashamed of his circumstances. This young man is similar to a character portrayed in the 1943 movie “Imitation of Life”. In that movie there was a black lady who was a maid for a rich lady. The rich lady had a daughter as did the maid, but the maid’s daughter was ashamed of her mother because she was black. So the maid’s daughter left her mother, changed her name and assumed life as though she was white.
Tammy stated that she could not help being poor, because her father was poor and raised twenty-two children. Tammy’s statement about being poor afforded her only so much leverage and should not be used as a crutch as many people in the same or worse situation have been able to do anything that we they put their minds to do. If a person will persevere, and have the will to be removed from their comfort zone then it is possible to achieve a better life. Someone has to break the cycle of negative re-enforcements life for that family. For example, my brother, sister, and I ended up in foster care with me being the oldest. I knew that I wanted more in life and if I ever had kids I did not want them to be in the system where they would have to depend on the government for their livelihood. I made it my goal not to have children before I got married. I was very aware that things happen in life and
