Poverty Simulation: Elecia

To be very honest, I did not have a very good attitude towards the poverty simulation while I was participating. I was pretty frustrated because for the first three "weeks" no matter where I went I did not get anything from anyone. Yet, I saw the other participants getting somewhere in life. A part of me thought it was because some of the "providers" did not know what I was talking about, even though I had been instructed to do certain things on the paper that described my role. However, it is a possibility that these people in the booths were just doing a really good job at keeping all possible resources away from me even though I had the means to pay for it. Regardless of which scenario it was, I felt like quitting. I was close to calling it a day and just going home because I felt like I was just wasting my time. Then, I finally realized that there are probably people out there who live lives that are unfair, where nothing seems to work out, just like I was experiencing. If I quit the simulation, there were no consequences; but for people in poverty who quit on life, they could end up being depressed, start committing crimes, or even worse try ending their lives. Even though I was skeptical about whether this simulation was going to teach me anything during the first three "weeks", I found out upon reflection that it very much did serve the purpose it set out to do-to give me a greater understanding of what people in poverty must live through.