Share Cropper Nation

My grandfather was a sharecropper. Sharecropping was more  a process than it was a living. It was useful but it was deceptive in that people, in an effort to better themselves, were immersed in a life in which they were trapped and would find it difficult to escape.

Sharecroppers were hired to work a portion of land that was generally apportioned according to the size of his family. The more kids you had, the more land you could work. The land owner provided all that supplies and seed needed to work the land and would even provide help, generally other sharecropper families, when it was time to gather the harvest. After the harvest was sold the majority of the money made went to the land owner while a small portion went to the sharecropper family. The sharecropper would also be allowed to keep a small portion of the crop for himself for personal use. During the off season or winter, the money made from the sale of crops would have to be used to sustain the family along with the generosity of the landowner who would sell them food and other staples on credit, until the debt could be paid. Things were not cheap and it was the cycle of debt that ensured that the landowner would always have workers to enrich himself.

America has become a sharecropper nation. There are very few truly wealthy people. Most people toil for a paycheck under the illusion of riches. Because all the jobs and education levels are not made the same, there is an inherent but irrelevant inequity that exists that only determines how much money passes through your hands before you are buried in debt. The reality is most people will ultimately reach a level of debt that prevents them from having a different or better life just as the sharecroppers did. The sharecroppers were fooled into believing that they gain more status than others because they could work more land but it rarely provided them much more than temporary comforts until it was time for the next crop to be planted and harvested.

My grandfather ultimately paid his debt and broke the cycle. He did it first by realizing that he was stuck in a cycle. Each of us have that same opportunity. The choice is ours.

YOU live the life you choose.