Poverty and Character

It is just happenstance that today is April 15^th, IRS Day! Don’t sweat it! The due date was pushed to Tuesday, April 17^th 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