This Is What It's Like to Be Poor

Poor people, generally, make bad decisions—bad in the sense of their long-term physical, mental and financial welfare. But their bad decisions aren't the reason for their poverty. They're caused by it.

This first-person essay from Kinja user KillerMartinis, published in October and now getting attention, is a fascinating, gut-wrenching account of the the infinite, interrelated hardships of poverty, and how those hardships act as a self-reinforcing cage.

[image, of St. Ignatius Food Pantry in Chicago, via AP]