Student reviews $2 a Day

2 Dollar’s a Day Reaction Paper

After reading $2 dollar’s a day, I feel that this book was very riveting and eye opening for anyone that isn’t aware of what takes place in the poor under-resourced communities. When you actually take the time to actually read the stories instead of just hearing vague stories about how difficult it is, the book's narration actually can paint you the mental image of pain and disparity that these people face everyday. Knowing that not everybody is eating every night and that they suffer from circumstances that are insurmountable and that will lead to an early grave is shocking to those who are ignorant about this, but for me that was the community I was raised in. 

Growing up in one of the hundreds of the government housing developments in New York City known as the Bronx River Projects, I watched my own family and others try to survive off of $2 dollars a day income. Seeing people wake up early in their one-of-many attempts to get down to the welfare offices was nothing abnormal in my neighborhood, especially during the crack era in the 80s. I can remember going over to my friends' houses and comparing their poverty to mine, which wasn’t nothing out of the norm for kids in the projects because you always wanted to know if somebody has it as bad as you do. This book was like a time machine as much as it was an eye opener for me. Hearing the stories of how people operated in the “Shadow Economy” reminded me of the morning the NYPD knocked on my door and arrested my mother when I was 10 years old. In the moment I didn’t know what was going on; all I knew is that the cops took my mother away, and luckily me and my sisters didn’t get taken by DCFS because her friend Chrissy spent the night. Later on that day I remember watching the news and seeing my mother’s mugshot flash across the screen as she was being charged with food stamp fraud. Till this day my mother stands firm by her stance of saying that she did that so we wouldn’t starve, and you know what? I can’t blame her. Everyday people are deprived of food, shelter, and the money needed to survive in America. It's not fair.

So in closing I would just like to say that this book was a very good read and should be a part of any coffee table decor, especially in the homes of the privileged. I feel that anyone who is fortunate enough to not have to worry about food or shelter in world is blessed and off to a head start in life already. To know that you have mothers out there struggling to feed their kids and themselves daily and forced to live off of $2 dollars a day is saddening to anybody with a conscience or first hand experience in dealing with hunger pains.