When I think of the low-income families or people I know, not all of them are necessarily broke although many are frugal by necessity. But they've got loads of social capital. They're constantly doing things with, or for, their neighbors or their extended family. They reciprocate with gifts, babysitting, and other favors, and they don't try to take advantage of others.
And those are the ones that are satisfying to invest your time and energy into. We have friends and family who we do much better than financially. When there is a reward for us either from that person in the form of a heart felt thanks or from ourselves b/c we know we're doing the right thing - then it's a worthwhile effort to make.
Years ago, I used to mow the yard of a lady who couldn't do it herself. Took a few weeks to realize that she had an able-bodied 20-something grandson living with her that couldn't bothered to do anything for the lady. It was an eye-opening moment for me b/c I had been raised with a sense of responsibility for my family and friends.
I've long overlooked explanations for things that other people seem to grasp intuitively - like why some poor people seem to wallow in their own filth i.e. why do some poor people seem to live in the middle of a garbage dump or junkyard. Call me dense b/c it took a while to settle through my thick head. The problems of poverty and the disarray were connected. A "duh!" moment for me but I'll claim youth and lack of insight even though I was middle aged when it finally connected for me. ;)
I was simply taking it all at face value. This person has a filthy place to live. This person is poor. This person has problems. Took a few years to integrate the likely cause and effect. ;)
This one helped:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/countryboys/Its easy to see why the one boy (Chris) can't get it together. A hundred little details working against him, sewing the seeds of doubt in him, etc. Sure, there is an agenda at work in this documentary (like most) but look past that.
For years I was doing what I was taught to do by school and the media taught me to do - look for singular causes and effects, singular solutions, the most direct path between problem and solution without considering contributing factors that might undo whatever solution was applied.
I've give all you MMM'ers kudos for alot of these types of realizations. Reading the forums and your observations and ideas have been immensely beneficial to me and by extension mine (wife and kids).
I know I tend to ramble and reply with half baked statements on MMM but I'll claim here that it's because I'm always reading in a rush and subject to random interruptions while writing.