One of the best things about this class is that it gets people talking. The hour and fifteen minutes is never enough time for our interesting discussions. Today we talked about “The Stop,” the poverty simulation, and of course, the SNAP challenge. At the beginning of all of these topics, all I could think about was how guilty everything made me feel. I felt like I was a bad person because I was given so much when so many people, who are probably more deserving than I, are given so little. The more I thought about it, however, I didn’t understand why I felt so guilty since I couldn’t control the life I was born into, and these awful problems that people have are not my fault. Nonetheless, these lessons still made me feel guilty. When I realized that one of the biggest lessons from the poverty simulation, “The Stop,” and the SNAP challenge, and one of the overarching themes of this class is awareness, I realized that my lack of awareness was the source of my guilt. I felt guilty for not knowing how our government and economic systems perpetuate the cycle of poverty. I felt guilty for not knowing what the people who live off of $4.21 a day feel like. I am guilty of sometimes not looking beyond the sheltered life of opportunity and fortune in which I live.
In class I brought up an idea that I had that the SNAP challenge inspired. Among the many lessons I’ve learned so far from this challenge, one of the biggest ones is awareness, specifically in my own life and how much I spend on food. It made me realize that not only do I spend a lot of money on food on a daily and weekly basis, but I spend a lot in general and I really have no idea to how much it actually amounts. I suggested in class that another challenge that might be really interesting and eye-opening for people is to log their expenses for a week. All the money I spend on food, gas for my car, random necessities, gifts for my little during the big/little weeks for our sorority, and more really add up and I’m scared to find out actually how much I’m spending and how it compares to those who live in poverty.
SNAP Challenge 