It is not that i chose to be poor but rather that i chose many years ago to deviate from a path that would have lead to a middle class career with a salary. And being a student at that time meant that i was in a position of little income to begin with and being upwardly mobile did not appeal to me. Such a deviation from didn’t sit well with my parents but they taught us to be independent and to stick up for the little guy so they took a ‘grin and bear it’ attitude to the change. They were workers but “middle class” is one of those illusions that proves to be useful to the elite, every division helps their cause. None of the 50 years of my life after leaving the nest have seen a lucrative income, never enough to enable me to go into long term debt. The richest i have been was when my father died and i shared a small estate with my sisters.

Odd jobs, social programs, the generosity of others, and the sales of crafts have always provided enough to keep a roof over my head and food in my belly. I have never been homeless but have come close enough to understand how people can end up in that predicament. Poverty is not a state of mind, it is state of being. I don’t feel poor but as i walk through dowtown Bancroft, i realize that most of the stores will never see my business. I am not able to shop like the middle class and do not want or need to. It is commenable that enough people do as thrift store goods have to start somewhere.

So yeah, i fail at being a consumer. The lifestyle i have chosen still has a carbon footprint but less than average and every reduction counts when it is a matter of mitigating the foreseeable catatstrophes. Having little disposable (sic!) income means i have less choices in the marketplace but so what? I don’t suffer for that lack, i make do with what is front of me, what i can find in my surroundings or what i can make or fix or borrow. It means that i am more engaged with the infrastructure of life but i have trouble sitting still anyway and my labour time is seldom devoted to wage earning. More stuff comes out of my workshop than i can get rid of.