/biz/ - Business & Finance

Being poor was a valuable life lesson and one of the best things to happen to me. It's one of the things that decides your fate as a human being. Literally, too. You can die if you fail. I won't go in detail, obviously, but I'll give some insights.

It taught me and FORCED me into discipline, maturity, responsibility, and compassion. It also, for better or worse, taught me what the world is like. I said this makes or breaks someone because people will tend to fill the void in their life or suppress the pain with purchases and going into debt. I know plenty of people who destroyed their lives that way. One way it forces you is in terms of responsibility. It's very easy to be responsible and see what is valuable to you between a television or even basic cable and Top Ramen. It teaches you a lot too and makes you creative, but you don't have a choice. If your mouse or monitor breaks you're forced to learn. Then you find out the fix is relatively easy. Bending the little metal thingy versus replacing some capacitors. Trivial, really, and you get a new skill. Plus, you notice how simplistic these things are. The only complexity is in your mind due to fear of the unknown.

I didn't have a mentor, but in a way it forced me to be my own mentor and I think it made me a stronger person for it. It also made me keep my integrity because I saw what it was like being helpless firsthand. I saw the type of people that take advantage of you... It's like Robin Williams said, “I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anyone else to feel like that.” On top of that I vowed to always do the right thing. Never cheat the man in the glass. There's so many people I know of that are just spineless rats. It's depressing. I know of one that sells vehicles and he changes the odometer reading and sells it for double what it costs. Disgusting.