The Poor and the Rich

Who are the poor?  They aren't just people who are hungry or house-less or dirty. They are people who are seen as being socially inadequate  because of their poverty.  They are the people who are called "lazy" and "untrustworthy" and "hopeless" because of various social factors, but partly because they are hungry or house-less or dirty.

Who are the wealthy?  There are lots of different definitions of that.  They are the people who not only aren't hungry, but they don't ever have to wonder where their food and housing and clothing is going to come from.  They can't be measured simply by income, but by the confidence with which their maneuver through their society.  Some people, even if they don't have much financially can be powerful in their cultural circles.

The poor envy the wealthy.  This isn't always true, but it is true enough to make it a force in any society. The poor want the prestige and resources and wealth and power that wealth accumulates.  Many of them think that if they win the lottery or obtain money by some other magical means that they would be of the wealthy.  That simply isn't true.  This doesn't mean the poor must live an impoverished existence.  Absolutely not.  Most people have the possibility of having all of their needs met.  But having money doesn't make one wealthy.

The wealthy distrust the poor.  They think that they use their resources badly.  They believe that their power and abundant resources come from hard work and that they deserve all they obtain.  They don't realize that most of their resources comes from luck-- the luck of birth, the luck of relationship, the luck of personality traits that work toward a narrow minded concept of success.  They think that anyone could do what they have done.  They don't understand the social barrier that keeps the poor from having enough resources to live on.

The poor need the wealthy.  They need the resources that the wealthy provide.  Not just the money, but the relationships, the jobs, the social know-how, the education, the authority that comes of being wealthy.  With these resources, the poor might no longer be poor.  

The wealthy need the poor.  The wealthy think they need no one, but they need people to focus on details so they can focus on bigger projects.  The wealthy need to use their resources for others so that their compassion and empathy may grow into a full human soul.  They need the poor to grant them the joy of giving to those truly in need. 

The poor would like the wealthy, if they got to know them.  The wealthy are nice people, if perhaps a little naive about real life.  

The wealthy would trust the poor, if they got to know them.  The poor are hard working, friendly people.

We need to get these people together. 

How To End Poverty 3

 

Okay, let’s get serious about this. How DO we deal with poverty?

First of all, we need to understand what poverty is. There are two main categories of poverty, which greatly overlap. There is the poverty that is being physically destitute. This is the common kind of poverty we think of: people who are hungry, who have no where to live, who have no warmth, who have no safe drinking water, who are wracked by disease. Those who are destroyed because of their lack of physical needs.

The second is like the first: social poverty. This is a state of separation, of rejection, of outcastness. These are the poor who the mainstream culture of one’s society rejects, for one reason or another. Usually, however, they are rejected because they do not accept some major, unwritten law of the mainstream culture. They are too loud or too quiet. They don’t participate fully in the mainstream’s economic system. They don’t look like or dress like the mainstream. They have different cultural presuppositions.

This second class of the poor soon become the first class. They become destitute due to their social standing. And the mainstream feels good about these poor because, “They deserved it. If only they would…” (fill in cultural prejudice here) “… then they could live better.” So the mainstream convinces themselves that the poor are worthy to be poor and they deserve their benefits and judgments.

Another result of this cycle is fear. When one culture separates from another, then they tend to fear each other. The mainstream begins to see the outcast as the root of many of the evils of their society and the outcast sees in the face of every mainstream person the last mainstream person who abused them. This fear becomes prejudice and that prejudice becomes a cycle of mutual destruction.

How do we end this cycle?

First of all, the mainstream culture needs to associate with the outcast culture. If this happens, then the mainstream culture will realize, over time, that the outcast culture aren’t so bad after all. Perhaps they act differently, and hold some different opinions, but that doesn’t make them bad people. That even if they may not be as “good” as those of their own culture, then at least they shouldn’t be feared. Once we get past the fear, then we can perhaps get to the point where representatives of the two cultures could actually assist each other and support each other.

The difficulty is, how to get the two sides to overcome their fear? They need two things: 1. A neutral ground where they both feel safe to meet. And 2. A mediator that understands the cultural presuppositions of both sides and is willing to teach both sides about the social needs of the other without putting down either side.

If we end cultural superiority, then we will end most poverty. If the mainstream and the ruling elite understand the life and worldview of the poor outcast, then we are ready to welcome each person as they are.

How To End Poverty 1

 

Today is Blog Action day and so we are all writing about poverty, in the hopes that it might be ended. I think this is a wonderful idea and I really support it.
However, I must say, that this morning I am feeling particularly cynical and upset. So in approaching the idea of how to end poverty, these are the ideas I came up with first:

1. Every politician, judge, lawyer, clergy, CEO, bank manager and doctor, before taking on their profession, must live with the destitute poor—the homeless, a hospital for the mentally ill, a village in Africa, Darfur, etc— for a month before taking office.

2. Create a drug that increases the effect of mirror-neurons, thus causing a super-empathetic reaction, and then put it in the drinking water.

3. Force the top two percent of wealthy people in the world to live among colonies of the sickest in the world—colonies of lepers, of AIDS sufferers, of malaria patients.

4. As a result of any lawmaker who writes or supports a law which harms the poor—for every act of war, for every unfair tariff, for every legislation aimed against the homeless—they are instantly killed by God or by an assassin’s bullet, without trial, without recourse.