the back burner

expectations

Saturday I was scheduled three shifts in a row at work: an 8 am classroom session, a 12 pm lunch shift, and a 5:15 pm dinner shift. Sheesh. I did have nsome spare time between class and lunch, so I rushed by Wal-mart and Target, sped to the post office, and stopped back by my house before returning to the restaurant. As I drove, I listened to a sociologist, working woman, and NPR commentator discussing living at the poverty line in America.

At first, I heard the woman say something which I thought was a sound clip, since the two men began to discuss her words and her situation. Realizing that she was actually there with them in the studio gave me a rather violent turn, since the men kept talking as if she weren't there at all. How much she must have felt like an objcet, a case, a study! The conversation began to focus upon the details of this woman's life: her large family, her status as sole bread-winner, how hard it was to keep insurance, how hard it was to keep cars running, etceteras. I would have been quite embarrassed.

What really got to me, though, was the fact that towards the end of the interview, they asked this woman what she had to do without. The reply was mild-mannered and summery: "Well, we go without sometime, sometime. But we're fine. The kids are in school aren't they? Things ain't so bad."

The sociologist INTERRUPTED her to tell us that this was just her being too proud to share the details, which he proceeded to do. He and the commentator then commenced to try to convince this noble woman that she was doing something hard and difficult and had every right to take it out on the establishment ("the establishment" being our last two presidents, Bush and Clinton)! What?!

I was mad. I was ready to call up my local NPR affiliate and let them have it. But then this lady replies, again just as breezy and warm and mild as an early summer's day, only this time her words are tinged with some sorrow, as if the corners of her eyes have gone moist: "Oh, you're sweet. You're really sweet. The only thing is, is -- you've got too high expectations. You just talkin about things because that's the way you was raised. A body don't need all that much. Somebody like me just needs to know that things are gonna be better, maybe better for her children. That's all I need right now."

Expectations, huh? Well shoot. Shoot, shoot, shoot. The men seemed to sit back, somewhat abashed, quickly making obligatory thank yous and giving a plug for the sociologist's new book about this woman and low-class America. I turned off the radio and began to hum a little.