Poverty Simulation: a first hand account
Written by Mary Beth Robertson
Even as the instructions were being given and I specifically heard, “this is not a game,” I was strategizing on how to win. I lightheartedly agreed with the man who was to be my wife for the next hour, how we would outsmart the system and head straight for the public assistance department and then be on easy street until I found a job. Exactly two minutes into the “game” everything fell apart. What I mean to say is; my plan didn’t work. I had no idea how to use the services provided, I paid absolutely no attention to the three characters who were assigned to be my children and I went from thinking this was fun to feeling truly panicked. I was the “father” of this group and I was failing and failing quickly.
I cannot express the true stress I experienced as I assigned one of my children the task of filling out my job application while I went to the pawn shop. I conned a street person out of their transportation ticket and sent my other child to the grocery store where she managed to get away with $169.00 worth of undocumented purchases.
I went home that night and the next night to nightmares. In my dreams I was chasing money. In my waking hours since then I have remembered what an inconvenience I thought my “children” were. The stress of the experience was something so real I can bring it back into my body by just thinking about it and this didn’t even really happen; to me anyway.Does this mean that the farther a person is from poverty the less likely they are to understand the life of someone immersed in poverty?
While thinking this over, I have come to several obvious conclusions; I live my life beyond reproach because I can. I don’t deal with unsavory characters because I don’t have to. People living in poverty are perfect targets for predators; their desperation must be so apparent that they become easy prey and cannot afford the time to think through the consequences of their choices.
The poverty simulation has stuck with me. I have an unscientific theory; the farther away a person lives from poverty the worse they would “perform” in the simulation. Does this mean that the farther a person is from poverty the less likely they are to understand the life of someone immersed in poverty? What about empathy and understanding, where do they come in? Worse yet, what if people living in poverty become invisible to those who are not? My realistic, pragmatic self knows this is already happening. We all close our eyes to things we don’t want to see. It seems almost a knee jerk reaction to look away from things and situations that disturb our ideal of how thingsshould be.
The poverty simulation is an excellent teaching and EYE OPENING tool.
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