Sunday, December 7, 2008

Poverty

I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes a person poor. Up to a few weeks ago I believed it was a lack of opportunities and most importantly, money. I am growing to believe, however, that it is a state of mind. In this country we have tons of social programs that offer free food, heat, water, electricity, and education to name a few. Yet, everyday in America people wake up in cold, dark houses with nothing to eat. Why, when the aid is clearly there, do they remain poor? I know people who live on a similar income to mine, yet always seem to be on their last dollar with nothing to show for it.

While I think these programs are good, I think they treat the symptoms of the disease without actually fixing the root cause. I think poverty is a mental trauma that leaves deep scars that are never fully erased. I have cleaned out the basements of middle class people who lived through the great depression only to find boxes full of buttons and thread taken from clothes. Their poverty left lasting effects on the way they lived.

The saying is that you can take a man out of a ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of the man.

I don't want to sound like the famous Phil Grahmm and "mental recessions," but I am coming to believe that poverty in this country has a large psycological component to it

3 comments:

Amber said...

I completely agree! It's really sad to think about, and I have no idea how it could be fixed. Good post though!

brohammas said...

There is a culture based in poverty just like "middle class" and the defining characteristic is not money but STABILITY.

You can lead a life without money butif it is stable your more aligned with middle class. examples being govt. workers (teachers)and family owned farms, etc.

When situations are unstable your foundation has to shift from institutions and posessions to relationships, ie if your car breaks down you don't call the shop, you call uncle Ray who might be able to patch the thing together. your focus shifts from looking ahead to looking to now.

It is more than a mindset, it is a culture that can't be shed without someone from another culture showing you the ropes.

Rarely does one find a new way of thinking without someone else teaching them, be it oarent, friend, missionary, or case worker.

Chaci said...

Agreed...there's a really great book on this called "The Politics of Poverty" by Ruby Payne. I have it if you ever have extra time and want to borrow it!