May
2008
Episode 4 - Brooke
Episode 4 of 24. A reading from the book Policies of Exclusion, Poverty & Health: Stories from the front. Compiled, with Introduction and Reports by Chrystal Ocean. Copyright 2005.
Poverty sucks. I am not depressed; I am deprived. I am in despair and I am frustrated. Before, the poverty hurt so bad that I wanted to go to sleep and never wake up.
In Brooke, who has a middle-class background and is mid-fifties at the time of this telling, we meet a seemingly fragile woman. Certainly, the stresses of her life are evident in both the content of her story and how the story unfolds. However, beneath Brooke’s apparent fragility we hear hints of a stubborn optimism. As she puts it, “I find treasures in the darkness.” Through hunger, loss of income and loss of home, Brooke refuses to let go hope.
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Brooke’s story left me exhausted and hungry. How does one in this country of wealth come to terms with the vast chasm between have and have nots?