It is just happenstance that today is April 15th,
IRS Day! Don’t sweat it! The due date was pushed to Tuesday, April 17th
because the normal deadline fell during a weekend. How good of them to think of us at times like
these!
Now, here’s the quote that caught my eye the other day, and
of course it is anonymous from the Internet!
“Poverty is not a lack of character. It is a lack of money. A lack of
opportunity. A lack of investment. It is when society turns its back and makes
you invisible.”
Not a bad quote, but not wholly correct either. I can argue
against it a bit, but I can also argue why it is true. So ambiguity is present.
First, I definitely agree that poverty is not a lack of
character. It is a lack of money or an overwhelming load of expense for the
available income. Such conditions arise in spite of good planning, proper
preparations and good intentions. That’s the condition or circumstance of
poverty. Character is all about what you
do about it and handle it. It is not the end of the world or life itself. It is
inconvenient and troublesome, yes even worrisome. But it is also an opportunity
to be creative and determine what really is important in life. Your life.
Second, lack of opportunity applies to some people. Those
are the folks who grew up in poverty and were basically denied the chance to
experience some of the good things like music, theater, sports, education, good
tutoring, nurture…you name the experiences that helped you grow and wonder if those
are always present in the lives of others. They are not. And that is tragic
enough.
But the real tragedy is those affected don’t see the
opportunity they do have to work their way out of poverty in the first place. That’s
the real opportunity. To learn from not having; to learn how to find
opportunity. To seek what is available from others free for the asking. It does
exist. It is available. There are a lot of people who find reward in making
these opportunities available to those in need.
This is a complicated issue. Blinders exist. For those
suffering. For those who don’t suffer and seemingly don’t care. For those
giving but unable to connect to those in need. Good intentions are worthy. But
fulfilled intentions are better; they just take a little more work!
Third, lack of investment refers to society in general, not
the victims of poverty. It is in our community’s interest – our national
interest – to invest money and effort in those programs that will benefit the
weakest among us. Such programs will make them strong and self sufficient; for
themselves and their families. Long into the future.
Investments we speak of are generally in the educational
vein, the experiential activities that help a person see their own
possibilities and strive to achieve them. Training programs. Vocational
interest development. Art education to more fully develop mental acuity and
expression abilities. Social interaction development so they learn to
appreciate others and themselves within relationships. These deal with nurture.
Care. Love. Making the possible happen in the lives of many.
If our social structure does not make this investment, then
we should expect poverty to occur for many. So it is our responsibility to make
the investment. For all of our sake.
Fourth, society does often turn its back on the
impoverished; it tries to ignore the pain and reality. It is their way of
making the problem go away, become invisible. But of course such action doesn’t
do this. It only makes the problem worse.
But such behavior makes for effective sound bites for
politicians or wedge issue ideologues. They will say: “a free society makes all
things possible; the poor have the same opportunities I have; let them take
care of themselves.” You know this is an
accurate supposition of what some would say. Of course they are wrong.
The young kid is not responsible for his situation. He lacks
power to get himself out of the situation as well. The elderly who have
financial problems have too little time left to repair the damage regardless of
whose fault it is that the problem exists in the first place. The severely
disabled who do not have the capability to physically do for themselves. The
poorly trained who do not have a clue on how to improve on their condition.
No excuses here please. We as a people are better than that.
We have a duty to live as well as we can and bring others along with us. To do
otherwise lessens the quality of our lives,…and character. Not theirs; ours.
So the quote is a good one. It makes us think and value. Each
other and the blessings we individually have been granted.
And sharing. Just like they told us in kindergarten!
April 15, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment