The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends. Proverbs 14:20

This proverbs is true but interesting. It’s getting more difficult in our Western society to differentiate between the poor and the middle class. Then of course there are lower, middle, and upper middle class before you get to the upper class, of which there are varying degrees. We tend to associate with those in our socioeconomic class (poor, middle, upper class).

As a child I hated being in the upper end of the poverty class. Even back then there was a stigma with being poor, and I wanted nothing to do with it. I often wonder why that was so.

Now, 35 years removed from that, I have to ask myself, have I changed in my own attitude towards the poor (not at all that I’ve risen to the ranks of the upper class because there’s a different stigma attached to that!)? Do I look down on them or treat them differently. Do I give preferential treatment to those who I perceive to be in my socioeconomic class?