What "poverty" looks like in the U.S.

According to Wikipedia the poverty level in the United States in 2011 was $22,350. 
I live so below that limit that you wouldn't believe me even if I gave you a number. 

Why is it that I can live so far below poverty level, yet I am able to have everything I need and much, much more?
We live in the U.S., that's why.  I am not living in poverty.  I was lucky enough to be born in the United States instead of a country where when you hear the word "poverty", you know that it means not having running water or even so much as a pair of shoes without holes. 

We have program after program to help people that are low income.  We have cash aid, foodstamps, the foodbank, WIC, HUD, other low income housing, the CARE program for PG&E, Medi-cal, SSI if you have any sort of disability, programs that will help with security deposits on rentals, the Mission for homeless to stay, free meal where you can sit down and eat something hot, the free store where you can get clothing, we even have Freecycle where you can get basically anything you could imagine..for free.

Our own little U.S. version of "poverty" is laughable. 
The fact that our society is all about having more, wanting better, trading in and up, having multiple, having extra and complaining about what we DO have is outrageous.

Shame on us.

My mom was watching a special with Sean Penn on Haiti and though I do not know the exact quote, he said something like 'seek out situations that humble you'.

That is exactly what minimalism is.  It is seeking out a living situation that humbles you.

For me, my idea on what I 'need' has changed greatly since I started this journey. 
I think about everything I touch in my home.  Last night I picked up a small pot and thought 'I do not need this, I can make do with the other one I have'. 

When you stop comparing yourself to people who have more (everyone in the U.S.!) and start focusing in on what you actually need, you realize how amazing you actually have it.   If more people would embrace the "I have too much" way of thinking rather than the "I need more and better" way of thinking, maybe we wouldn't have people starving while we are throwing away 25% or more of the food we buy. 

My goal, just as it was a year ago, is to only keep what I really need.  The thing is, my idea about what I need is ever-changing.  As I see more and more what real poverty looks like, I NEED a less.  My urge to purge things from my home has become almost obsessive.  The less I have, the more I feel like I am closer.  Closer to everything.  Life, I am present.  Closer to finding my calling in life.  Closer to my kids.  Closer to nature. 

My appreciation for life is 10x what it used to be.  I look at pretty much everything I have as a luxury which makes life so much more full. 

Looking around and seeing bare spots is success to me.  It is a visual reminder of the freedom I feel inside.  And the few things that I do have are a visual reminder of how lucky I am to have ANYTHING. 

I live in "poverty" and I am content.