Perfectly Imperfect Podcast With John Strong

Perspective.  When I was 20 or so I asked a younger cousin of mine if she considered herself/family to be poor. She ingested the question momentarily and responded with, “We don’t have everything but we got something.  So no we’re not poor.”  Perspective.  The idea of poverty that existed in her mind no doubt was that of extreme destitution.  You know tattered clothing, emaciated, malnourished like the 80’s infomercials featuring African kids.  She was around the age (13) I was when I began to examine social and economic roles in society.  Around the age young Charlie was in the film Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.  The difference between her perception and that of Charlie and I -- we’d seen the glass ceiling.  We knew that we were far closer to the bottom than the top.  And as far as the world was concerned we didn’t even exist.  Some people accept this as their truth and they live in it.  While others refuse to accept this, refute it, and set out to change their cards.  “Living with giving up has to