Poverty = success?

I'm a 43 year old white male and I grew up on welfare. I was the youngest of 5 kids, watched black and white TV and played with Legos and G.I. Joe's. My mom did peoples laundry so that we could celebrate birthdays and Christmas, the act was probably illegal but hey, food stamps don't buy shoes and this was before wage garnishing laws.. I think.

Technically speaking, we lived in poverty. We were dysfunctional way before the term was a word, without a father in the house, what was left was a power void that my oldest brother and sister tried to fill, but that only ended up in more yelling and fighting. One by one my siblings left home, this freed my mom up to try to improve her situation. When I was in Jr. High, and only two of us left (one older brother going into High School) my mom mustered up the courage to complete her G.E.D., she then got her drivers license and found a job at a laundromat, starting over, at 45.

We didn't have money or connections but what my mom did have is a sense of responsibility and faith in God. We didn't got to church but there was a large picture of Jesus' face wearing a crown of thorns over our fireplace mantle and large Bible underneath the coffee table, I guess those two things gave me a sense that God was watching over us. My mom met a man when started High School and they soon made plans to get married, he actually took my mom and I out to dinner and made the announcement himself to make sure I was OK with it. I was elated to know that she was going to be taken care of and gave my consent.

One thing I've never heard my mom say is "that's just not fare". Question.. is poverty fare, no. Did we get "governmental help", yes, for about 8 years. Did my father pay a price? I think so.. relationally. He on the other hand traveled the world (Saudi Arabia, Chile, Hawaii) working for a large construction firm. He eventually settled in California, Marin County as a mater of fact and remarried before my mother did. Fare? No.

So what was the byproduct of this in my life? A personal drive to succeed as I saw to define it, this is America, right? I joined the Air Force at 21, got married, went to college full time, had two kids and worked hard, played by the rules, finished my degree and found a good job.

My mothers sacrifice and courage taught me a lesson, that if you have courage, faith get an education and work hard, you will succeed. Are we rich, no, did we find success, yes, this is America.