The Choices We Make

Poverty has now become “As American As Apple Pie”, a situation we choose to ignore, and along with it the millions of families who suffer from it. Many have this tendency to believe that they are safe from falling into poverty; unaware of the multiple situations that can cause one to fall into poverty. It makes one wonder what’s keeping them from tipping over, eventually leading to the question, what makes poverty so common, and why is it still around?

Peter Edelman provides stark numbers in regard to poverty in his article “Poverty in America: Why Can’t We End It?” Low paying jobs, single parent households, lower occurrences of welfare, and race and gender issues all contribute to poverty in America (Edelman). He is sure to point out that this is not a new problem, but something that America has been having trouble dealing with for many years. One of the shocking numbers he provides is “104 million people - a third of the population - have annual incomes below twice the poverty line” (Edelman). A negative attitude toward those in poverty may prevent people from having empathy for and being charitable toward those less fortunate. However, whether or not the attitude is positive or negative,

Many notable wars have begun and ended without people taking time to truly understand them. It is the case that it is harder to understand something one has not experienced yet, and the war on poverty is not exempt from this. However, poverty has existed all throughout the history of mankind’s most notable societies, from the French revolution in 1789 which bloodied the halls of the Palace of Versailles to the Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011 which reminded Americans that economic inequality is still prevalent. The Invisible Poverty of Other America by Peter Dreier, 7 Lies About Welfare by Danica Johnson, and Where to Sleep When You’re Homeless by an anonymous ex-homeless person, all give insight to the problems we’ve learned to turn a

In Peter Singer’s article, “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” he explains situations that may benefit poverty but in doing so explains a person’s morals and willingness of a person to do so. America a capitalist country that Americans work to making a living for themselves and for some their children. Working is a big factor in America that Singer uses “Dora a retired schoolteacher” (Singer 400) as an example of a situation. Though Dora knows nothing is free in the society we live in but she still finds a way to “[make] ends meet by sitting at the station writing letters for illiterate people” (Singer 400). In this society it becomes hard to find work and make

While watching the film Poor Kids, I found myself thinking back to my own childhood. I grew up in a family consisting of my single mother, my younger sister, and myself. I would never consider my background one of affluency. Despite this it is jarring to think of how differently my early years were compared to those of children living in poverty. While there were times when I could tell my family was tight on money, I always had a hot shower waiting for me. Although I was on the free and reduced lunch program at my school for many years, no one in my family ever had to go without three meals a day. I never had to worry about the financial state of my family. Seeing this film made me reconsider how I viewed poverty and why it’s so important to acknowledge its prevalence in the U.S.

The effects of poverty rains down on our society like a disease with no plausible cure. Around the world there is hunger, deplorable housing, lack of work, inadequate medical care and more. The faces of neglect are seen everywhere. The results of growing up in poverty can be seen by turning on our televisions and viewing the news. Constant reports of murder, robbery, suicide, and child abuse are evidence of hopelessness, desperation, and broken souls.

Poverty is all around us, although many people when asked to define it cannot because they do not have a complete understanding of what it means. In his novel, The Other America: Poverty in the United States, Michael Harrington discusses how poverty is not well known by people who have not experienced it first hand. He writes; “Poverty is often off the beaten track. It always has been. The ordinary tourist never left the main highway, and today he rides interstate turnpikes. He does not go into the valleys of Pennsylvania where the towns look like movie sets of Wales in the thirties…” (3). What Harrington is saying is that people tend to purposely stay away from poverty even though they are not sure they know what it means.  If so many people are affected by this nightmare, why does no one who has all these opportunities try to fix anything? Poverty needs to be studied and solved because it affects health, education, and social skills.

For years poverty has been an ongoing social issue, especially here in Boise Idaho. Many families are suffering because of this issue, countless left without a home. Poverty effects many and the number people who are affected and experiencing homelessness is at it’s all time high. There have been different stages in history that poverty has seen its worst. This social issue affects many demographics, several struggling to make ends meet. Poverty isn’t just the state of being poor, but a social issue and injustice to people today because of the almost impossible hoops they must jump through to bring themselves out of homelessness and the poverty race.

A common saying is that “money makes the world go round.” People in developed nations, specifically the United States, often strive to become rich and live a life filled with indulgences and luxuries. A topic of debate, however, is whether or not this way of living is selfish, and if we, as humans, have a responsibility to adopt alternate lifestyles that best fight poverty and promote the rise of adequate, healthy lifestyles. Both Dorothy Day in Loaves and Fishes and Peter Singer in “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” acknowledge the consequences of the desire for excessive amounts of money and, alternatively, advocate for a lifestyle of voluntary poverty.

When I began this journey, I had a finite perception of the injustices present in our world and society. Serving a church in inner city West Baltimore, Maryland, I encounter many different people, circumstances, issues and situations. The perception I had as to why the crime was so high, there were so many high school drop outs, so many persons on public assistance, a drug epidemic and such an increase in the violence, was finite and lacked comprehension of the factual issues. One of those major foundational issues is that of poverty. A widespread commonsense understanding is that poverty is caused by individual fate or bad choices people make in their lived: dropping out of college, getting pregnant, getting divorced, ending up in one of the famous female-headed families that haunt the “moral” debates on poverty, having a “culture of poverty,” sliding into the “black underclass” of the inner-city ghettos, lacking an education, failing to adapt to the demands of the economy, and so on .

Poverty, often blamed on the individual or system is the lack of financial resources. Born to a humble family, I was raised to embrace the idea of not having things because they were too expensive and simply out of reach financially. This was the norm for me growing up, having to struggle for things before I have them and learning to accept it when there isn’t the financial means to achieve them. As a kid I would always ask, why others had more than we did, or why we couldn’t have the things they had. With time these my incessant questioning of why we had so little vanished, leaving a trail of worthlessness, and the self-doubt. Throughout this essay I will be addressing the following themes: Poverty, Death, and Morality, (How will you be addressing these themes? What is lack? )

Relative poverty is a social ill and problem that no country has so far combated to the end. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2012 Current Population Report, 46.2 million Americans are considered impoverished; That is also 15 percent of the country’s population. Approximately 16.4 million American children, kids under the age of 18, are affected by relative poverty. This is also 22 percent of the population that live in poverty. The rate for senior citizens, people 65 and older, is 8.7 percent. However, a discussion of poverty is a highly controversial issue constantly connected with a number of peculiarities and intricacies, as being poor is perceived differently in different parts of the world. While in the starving countries of Africa, poverty means having no home, no food, and no clothing on a regular basis, for Europeans, misery is much closer connected with deprivation of excess pleasures and purchases such as expensive devices, expensive clothing, and sophisticated foodstuffs.

Waking up every single day lying in the weary and backbreaking dirt, not having the sufficient money to purchase food for the family; eventually causing deprivation, tragic deaths, and several cases of starvation: this is the genuine face of poverty. Poverty revolves around “the state of being extremely poor,” which is a constant global issue encountered in society daily(“Poverty”). Not only does this horrendous issue “cause social tensions,” but it has “threatened to divide the nation” before (“Effects of Poverty on Society”). This matter of inequality not only affects society, but the children of future generations, who will eventually oversee the country, as well. Poverty continues to expand nationally as an issue day by day, which is why lawmakers need to act now in order to reduce this melancholic issue before it gets any worse.

Many people believe that America has one of the most powerful economies that is involved in the global market and the best average living standards, but is this statement really true? Since the creation of the United States it is known as the land of endless opportunities, regardless of social and economic classes. Under this philosophy, all citizens should have equal rights and opportunities to progress in the workforce. However, many people are living full lives and do not encounter financial obstacles. Even so, millions of people are faced with poor living conditions and struggle with providing basic needs for their families, (Proctor 2016). Whether people believe poverty and inequality exists in America or not, the authors in the four different articles think otherwise: “Culture of Success” By Brink Lindsey, “A Great Time to Be Alive?” by Matt Yglesias, and “Born Poor and Smart” by Angela Locke, and “The War Against the Poor Instead of Programs to End Poverty”by Herbert J. Gans, shared ideas on how to help fix the problems of the impoverished community and address the cause of the problem. In addition, the four articles explain different biases that the impoverished have to endure everyday.

Poverty in our communities is getting worse and not enough is being done about this social problem. This is becoming more widespread especially during times of the global economic downturn. I learned that poverty is not having enough resources to meet the acceptable amount of basic needs, or money to meet one’s daily needs. So much relates to poverty when you think about it. Poverty is difficult for families especially if they are low-income and harder for youths. Most of these parents work every day and earn very low-wages which keeps them at poverty levels. Families incomes that fall below the threshold per Abbie means that everyone living in the household is living in poverty. (A. Tish, personal communication, October 21, 2016). It was highlighted in an article that I read that people living in poverty feel socially excluded and stigmatized in the marketplace. (Hamilton et al., 2014). In society, we have been brought up that consumption is a good consumer and perceived as hard-working. Poverty is not solely focused on economic and material shortage of resources but it is a lack of necessities. (Hamilton et al., 2014).