Infestations... Head Lice.. Bed Bugs.

So, unfortunately, the house I'm renting has been infested with bed bugs. Which has me suffering from flashbacks from elementary school. Every year, a few times a year, we would have "head lice" checks to make sure we weren't carrying the parasites around and spreading it to our classmates. I, though I've never had head lice, have always been anxious about those days. The humiliation that comes along with having head lice... being ostracized.... being an outcast and being thought of as dirty.... I dreaded that threat each time the nurses came into our classrooms.
Our bed bug infestation reminds me a bit of those times. People immediately think you're dirty (though, it was my old man roommate who brought them in and then moved out). So, I've had to hold back in telling a lot of people about the additional amounts of stress my sister and I have had to deal with recently. Basically, we're trying to keep it on the down low, until the issue is taken care of.

So, reflection on money and bug infestations....
All throughout school, it was the "poor" kids who were singled out and told they had head lice in front of the rest of the class. It was those same kids who brought lice to school, and who I kept my distance from in my classes. The kids with money never seemed to have those issues.... head lice or bug infestations seem to have only affected the poor kids. The truth, however, is that head lice, or bed bugs, don't target the rich or the poor. They don't target people with dirty hair, or dirty houses. These parasites are equal opportunity bugs; they will attack and infest wherever they can. (I'm not saying that a cleaner house may/may not slow an infestation.) What I'm saying is that maybe bug infestations like bed bugs or head lice seems to be a poor person's problem because it's the poor who can't afford treatment for the infestation. Maybe it's the poor who are harder hit by the bugs that take over their residence. Maybe it takes longer to financially, as well as emotionally, respond to such an infestation.
Our bed bug problem alone is costing my landlord $1200 to take care of. Someone with limited income could not pay the bill upfront.
I'm learning that a bug infestation does not just target the poor, or the dirty. Bugs target whoever they can. It's just the the people with limited income don't have the means to keep their problems under control, or to pay an exterminator right away.
Just sayin.... our socioeconomic roles effect EVERY aspect of our lives.