In our G&T class, our current unit is poverty. We watched a documentary by Morgan Spurlock where him and his fiance, Alex, experienced what it was like to live off of minimum wage. For 30 days, they lived as if they both earned minimum wage and it really made them realize how hard it was.
1. The thing that surprised me the most was how hard it is to live off of minimum wage. I never really realized how difficult it was before I saw this documentary. I was also surprised by how much the fees were from the hospital. I was also surprised by the place where they got all of their furniture from, it was a store where everything was free. I thought that was very nice of the people to give things for free to those less fortunate and who can't afford it. I was also really surprised by that one man that had four kids and got by earning minimum wage.
2. I think this was a realistic portrayal of how it is to live off of minimum wage. As i said before, I never realized how difficult it was to support yourself by just making around 7.25 dollars an hour. However, as my teacher pointed out, I found it kind of ironic how they both had some sort of serious health problem which made them have to go to the hospital. And although it seems odd that both Morgan and Alex had to take a visit to the hospital, it does happen. One thing I did notice was that they didn't recieve any welfare or goverment support.
3. I learned a lot by watching this. I thought that earning minimum wage wasn't that big of a deal because the family would be able to get by but these people are literally on the edge in regard to money and how they can spend. They just barely get by with no room for comforts. Most people that earn minimum wage don't have to support a whole family such as teenagers with summer jobs and such, they even have health care and other comforts provided to them. This documentary really changed the way I see people who earn minimum wage; it makes me respect them more because they work so hard yet earn so little but they are still moving forward.
I know what you mean when you say that you didn't think that minimum wage wasn't that big of a deal. You don't really think of it being AS bad as it showed in the documentary. But it's true that they really are living on the edge. They have to be extremely careful with how they spend money, because like Morgan and Alex, unexpected things can happen unexpectedly.
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