In my previous post, I discussed how many Americans believe that a wealth is earned through hard work and poverty is a consequence of laziness. This cultural view implies that if the poor worked more diligently they could become wealthy. It doesn't matter if a person grew up in a disadvantaged community where a good education, healthcare, nutrition and housing were tough to come by, or if s/he was born into wealth privilege where those opportunities were abundant and easily accessible. All that really matters is one's effort. And since poor people's laziness is a personal failing, they do not deserve social and economic programs such as welfare; after all, it's their own fault they are poor. All they have to do is stop being lazy and they would get a good paying jobs that would bring them out of poverty. This includes the working poor...they just have to work harder.
So, as I understand this way of thinking, the assumption is that poor people don't mind being poor because it's easier than hard work. Sure, they'll probably die younger from disease, violence, poor nutrition, pollution and the like. Sure, they can't afford to travel for pleasure, go to fine restaurants, see Broadway shows, buy nice clothes, purchase a home in a good neighborhood, make investments and watch their money grow, etc. Sure, they might have to live in fear of lives, confront gang violence, grow up in broken families, have a history of being ridiculed, experience prejudice, become disheartened and hopeless, etc. But these things don't really matter to people in poor communities since they can take comfort and rejoice in being lazy. The joys of doing nothing productive--not earning a degree, not going to work and earning a good living--are so wonderful that the pain of poverty means nothing to them...they actually welcome it!
Is my understanding of poverty accurate? Am I missing something? If a few people come out of poverty, does it mean everyone in their community can if they just try hard enough? Is thie a logical view of reality?
3 comments:
Two interesting articles and points of view. I challenge the understanding of poverty. Yes something is missing. Let me explain.
It’s nothing to do with how hard someone works, it’s about values and culture. It’s not about whether one has more advantages in life than others or whether people are lazy, it’s about community cohesion, self-belief, compassion and support for others, opportunities and the ability to turn adversity into opportunity. It is also about good healthcare, nutrition and education that should be ‘a right’ for all. It’s also about the fundamental basic needs of human beings being met i.e. a roof over our heads, food on the table and common decency.
Anyone at any time can be plunged into poverty through no fault of their own, either through their own mistakes or because of external events like war, famine, even change of government that changes the culture.
My childhood experiences shaped who I was. From a supportive but poor community of strong women with Christian values, sometimes unable to feed their children - to eviction, having to move to another neighbourhood, to ridicule and bullying at school because I didn’t have the full uniform, was the tallest in my year, lived in a cockroach infested house with hypocritical neighbours who refused to accept us, ice on the windows, cold and hungry, serious anxiety – PTSD passed down from WW1 Veteran Grandfather who had beaten the family (not his fault, it was the war), told at school “you can’t do this (subject) so you will have to do that” and exam failure.
Low self-esteem is insidious, it creates an ‘I’m not worthy’ limiting self-belief. The trauma of these adverse childhood events (ACE’s) thankfully (I learned in 1985) pushed me into my analytical brain rather than down the drink, drugs and crime route. It made me rebellious once I had left school and was given a job as an Office Junior for a firm of Solicitors, by a nurturing Woman Head of Finance who took me under her wing, employing me on the basis of my handwriting and sole ‘O’ Level – Bookkeeping. Over 5½ years I progressed up through the support side of the business ending up as Common Law Clerk with people working for me…
At the end of WW11 our PM Winston Churchill, the greatest Leader this county has ever had, in his speech to the people at the end of the war said “My dear friends, this is your hour. This is not a victory of a party or of any class. It’s a victory of the great British nation ‘as a whole’….. But every man, woman and child in the country had no thought of giving up the struggle….”
The gap between rich and poor was minimal, we felt included, we felt valued and we had all put our shoulders to the wheel to win the worst war in our history.
In 1988 I became a self-employed Consultant and still work today. In 1994 I took my MSc HRM. For my thesis I studied Intrinsic Motivation because I needed to know why people treat other people as they do, from both a personal as well as business perspective and created a new model of Motivation. I changed people’s mindsets, helped them see a different perspective, I got down on the shopfloor and ensured they are given the respect they deserved and included them in the conversations.
Today, in 2022 the gap between rich and poor is enormous, we are divided, disrespected and devalued all because of MONEY and GREED. This has created an ‘I’m better than you’ culture.
My Ancestors were Anglo Saxons in England from the 4thC to the 9th. They were Lords and Tenants-in-Chief. I only found this out in 2020. I understood my Grandmother’s ancestors were Agricultural Labourers in rural Devon, thrown out of their homes and jobs when the government, in a land grabbing exercise, introduced The Enclosures Act… They all went on to be successful – some went to Canada, my Grandmother’s family stayed in Liverpool.
It really is about how we treat other people. Why? Because we do not know who we will come back on this earth as and in my view it depends on how we have treated people in the life we have now…
Your comment, Barbara, "hits the nail on the head" in many aspects of culture, belief, and living life. I appreciate the history lesson in making your points. Thanks much!
It was my pleasure Steve. Writing this helped me to condense my story and when I put it together with other stuff I am reading such as the need in the UK (and elsewhere) to 'level up', personal debt levels in the UK and other such related topics it is making my brain work overtime... Watch this space.
Post a Comment