A Discussion on Class Warfare A few weeks ago, I wrote a little confessional post on the blog about my life, sort of a "getting to know you" type of piece addressed to my friends in real life. Well, it turns out I made a mistake. I said, "Friends, you also know that I am not rich. Although my family has money, you know that I live on less than $35,000 a year, that I live in an apartment, and that I am currently in debt because of college." I understand that the wording of that particular passage may leave some readers with the impression that I am "barely making it," and I understand that for many in our community, $35K a year is a lot of money. I apologize for leaving anyone with the impression that I am out of touch with reality. According to this report (scroll down), 52.3% of people living in Alexandria make less than 30K a year, and only 14.6% have a bachelors degree. There is a serious rich/poor gap in our community, and this creates a social dynamic in which the "average" citizen feels disconnected from the decisions affecting his or her daily life. I definitely do not have all of the answers to this problem, but I know that a discussion is both healthy and necessary. The discussion breaks down, however, when we attempt to project the entire problem onto one person or one group of people. For some reason, many Central Louisianans prefer to play the blame game when it comes to the problem of poverty. The rich tend to believe that it's easy and painless to simply "lift yourself up by your bootstraps," and they offer little empathy for those who struggle daily to provide for their families. At the same time, those who "speak" for the poor like to stage the discussion from an emotional and untenable starting point: "You can't participate in this discussion because you don't know what reality is." This creates a barricade to discussion, and it alienates those who truly want to help.