30 Days - Living on Minimum Wage

In GT we just finished watching an episode of 30 Days. In this episode Morgan Spurlock and his fiance Alex lived off of minimum wage for 30 days. They experience the life of people who live off of minimum wage. They did this in June 2005 in Columbus, Ohio. It was very sad to watch them struggle. It made me think about the poor people who have to do it every day because that is their life. That is what they live off of and this made me realize how fortunate I am. I have so much, and I never realized this, but now I do and I am much more thankful for everything that I have.

A lot of things surprised me while watching this episode. Alex had an infection and had to go to the emergency room. Morgan's wrist was hurting and he also had to go the emergency room. Alex's bill came out to be about $400. Morgan's bill came out to be around $500. All Morgan did was go in and then they wrapped a cast on his arm which cost another $40! This got me angry because there is no need to charge that much money for just going into an emergency room and getting a cast. That's outrageous. Alex got issued pills to take which cost about $20. Just for that they charged her $400. That is not fair at all. Another thing that surprised me was that there was a church-run charity. The place had a lot of clothes, furniture, toys, and many other items. They gave fresh baked cookies and other food for free to Morgan and Alex. Morgan and Alex got furniture from there and some clothes and it didn't cost a single penny. This made me happy to see that there are people out there who take their own time to help the lives of others. The people were volunteering to help others. I was surprised to see how little money they were earning. They only earned about $40-$50 a day after working for about 12-16 hours a day. Morgan did two jobs and only earned about $50 a day. Alex was cleaning dirty dishes and Morgan tried things like landscaping, folding boxes, and making pizza. It was terrible to see how little money they made after doing labor work for more than half of the day.

I honestly think that this was a 100% realistic portrayal of living life off of minimum wage. I learned so much about the lives of the people who live their entire life like how Morgan and Alex did for just 30 days. They were broken down within the first 5 days and at the end of the month they were in debt of about $800 and in terrible condition. They were tired, weren't feeling well, stressed out, and weren't having any fun or time to relax. I think the lives of people who live off of minimum wage is very hard. Especially if they have to support a family. They would never have any fun in their life just like how Alex and Morgan were. They can't afford to go out for dinner or go to the movies. People on minimum wage can't even get proper treatment because of financial issues. They could get severely sick and their family member can't do anything except watch. That is so sad, to think about how bad a mother would feel if her son was sick, but she couldn't help him even though she works two jobs 16 hours a day to help him get a good education. She can't afford treatment.

I learned a lot from viewing this episode. I saw how difficult it is to live off of minimum wage. I learned how hard it is for just two people two live who are both working for more than half of the day and getting paid minimum wage. I learned that it's very hard to live how Alex and Morgan did. They did it for just 30 days, there are an abundance of people who do it everyday, because that's there life. I learned to appreciate what I have. I never thought of how great my life is. After watching this episode I changed. I saw that I'm very fortunate for all of the things I have. I also learned that there are nice people out their who dedicate their lives to help others, like the church in Ohio that gave away and immense amount of items for free to anybody. That is very generous. I now will appreciate the things I have a lot more.

A Photographick Look At Poverty

(Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

This picture really shocks me. I feel so sorry for these people in Pakistan. It is a cold evening in January and these people are trying to get warm. They have to keep theri tent open so the fire gets oxygen, but since their tent is open they will be cold.

(REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #

This picture was taken in Dungu, which is in northeastern Congo. A fourteen month old baby is hurt badly after his mother fled when the village was attacked by Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebels.

(REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #

This is Faustin Mugisa, who is 8 years old. He is a war orpahan and has machete scars on his head and body. He is standing at Kizito orphanage in Bunia in northeastern Congo. He was left for dead in a pile of corpses when ethnic Lendu militiamen hacked to death his mother and seven siblings in 2003. Mugisa's father discovered him alive and took him to the bush to recover, but his father was later hacked to death by the same militia group. He seems very sad. He looks so hopeless and has a very tragic expression on his face. It seems like his life is never going to be full of joy again.

Waste Land Documentary

In my GT class we are on the unit of Hunger, Poverty, and War. We just finished watching Waste Land. The movie was a documentary about people in Brazil who are garbage pickers and Vik Muniz is in the movie and his goal is to help them. Vik Muniz is a famous painter who is from Brazil.

I personally like the documentary. It was on the lives of real people and the people are in the movie and you could see how they live. I learned that there are so many people on this planet that aren't fortunate and have to work at places like Jardim Gramacha. Jardim Gramacha is a sanitary waste facility landfill that was established in 1970. The site receives more trash every day than any landfill in the world! 7,000 tons of garbage arrive daily making up 70% of the trash produced by Rio de Janeiro and surrounding areas. These garbage pickers help the people of Brazil because without them materials wouldn't be able to be recycled. They are very important, but they don't get the respect they deserve from people; people just look down on them.

Overall the film really touched me and also shocked me. I was shocked to see the way some of these people were living. I know that there is no way that I can live like that even for a day, and these people live like this everyday, this is their life! The thing that shocked me the most was that some people were happy to be working there! For example Valter liked to work there and he was proud to be a garbage picker. I couldn't believe it. Isis was another person who was in the documentary. She was a garbage picker as well. She didn't like it at all there, but she had to work there because of a tragedy. I liked the film because it showed the lives of people in today's world and the conditions they are living in. I learned an immense amount of new things from the film. I was sad to see the way these people were living and it really got me angry that the government of Brazil wasn't doing anything to help them. They were just ignoring them and all of their hard work and protests! This is wrong, these people are working so hard to keep their country clean and are living in such harsh conditions and they don't receive any credit, respect, or much money! I liked the film because in the end the main charcaters' lives had improved, and I like to see the lives of people who are not as unfortunate improve.

Ms. Mystrena told us a little bit about the Waste Land before we started watching the movie. From what she told us I thought that the film was just about some people who are homeless and pick garbage just like homeless people that you see if you ever go to the city. I didn't expect the film to be so touching, I thought that I was going to see the lives of some homeless people and how they live, but throughout the film my thoughts drastically changed. Throughout the film I saw the lives of people who work so hard everyday and how they live. I saw a mother being separated from her little children for weeks. Suelem was 18 and had two kids who were toddlers or babies, and she couldn't see them for a couple weeks at a time! She has been working at the landfill since she was seven! That is crazy, at the age of seven I was a little second grader! Zumbi was working very hard to bring money home so that he can give his son a proper education. He didn't want his son to be a garbage picker like him, he wanted his son to become successful. Zumbi had been working at the landfill since he was nine years old! My opinion of the movie definitely changed from the beginning. I now think that this was a great film and was very informational.

Vik Muniz is a very great person. After most people who were poor become rich they forget where they came from. Money becomes their life, but not for Vik; he went back to the land where he was born and grew up to help others. Vik went there and made paintings of the people and sold them. The money that he made from selling the paintings was given directly to the people. These people were poor and now they had some money to live better on a daily basis. Vik also opened up their eyes. He didn't make the paintings alone. They all worked together to make them. This gave them all hope that they aren't just garbage pickers, instead they are capable of doing great things too. This hope that they got led to all of them doing other things that they like to do. Zumbi and Tiao built a library with the money that they got. Isis left Gramacho and got married and now works at a supermarket. Vik gave these people the thing they need most; they need to believe in themselves. Vik is a very caring person to do this for them.

The movie actually did make me think how much garbage I produce on a daily basis. I realized that my family produces garbage that goes to landfills like Gramacho. I don't think that I will change the way in which I consume and dispose things. My whole family recycles our garbage. I'm not going to just eat less food so less trash is produced. I know that I will definitely recycle, but I'm not going to change my consuming habits.

There could be other areas of society that could be highlighted in Vik Muniz's artistic way. For example places like Africa where there are very poor people. There are very young children working for over 16 hours a day there and getting paid less than $1! Places like these can be helped through Vik Muniz's artistic way. There are definitely more places in the world that are like Jardim Gramacho. We can't have Vik Muniz use his artistic skills to help every single place, but we can all work together since we are all humans living on planet Earth. We can forget our differences in politics or viewpoints on war and just work together to make the lives of those people who are so hard working, but don't get the proper wage or respect they deserve.