I have never
considered myself an academician. Throughout different parts of my life I have
had desires to obtain the higher degrees. Throughout my life’s path there has
always been this one sincere desire to know more. From a very young age when I
began to read the fiction novels, not of the masters, but those of the horror
and fantasy writers like Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Tolkien and Lewis. This
voracious desire to read led me to the great writers, Hemingway, Salinger, Fitzgerald,
Kerouac and others. Although the reading had led me to discover who I was
becoming, they did not call me to look at the world around me. Looking at the
world around me came from my desire to actually live my life. It is this University
of Life that has brought me the “higher” degrees that I had dreamed of in my
younger days.
What does all
that have to do with poverty you ask? Well in my time in the UL I have come in
contact with many impoverished people. I believe that one of the greatest
problems we face in this country today is poverty. There are many theories on
how to vanquish poverty. The Neo-Left would have us throw off the shackles of
capitalism so that all of could share equally in the great harvest that is the
American dream. The Righteous-Right would have us create opportunities for all
of us to get up and go to work and invest ourselves in creating that great
harvest. I am however not convinced that either of these options will in fact
help in the repair of a nation that is not so slowly becoming a nation of the
impoverished.
So what then is
the answer? As with most problems in the world the symptoms are not the problem
the problem is the problem. So in my studies in life as I work and live with
the impoverished, I have found that for the most part there are two type of
impoverished people. When we can help people to identify what type of person
they are, then they can begin to change their circumstances. The two types of the
impoverished are the poor in pocket and the poor in heart.
The Poor in Pocket
The poor in pocket are perhaps the largest group of the
impoverished. I relate most closely with this group of people perhaps because I
too am part of the poor in pocket. This group, as Jesus predicted, has always
been with us. This group has only expanded in the aftermath of the economic
collapse that reached a crescendo in 2008. This is a group of people that has
been marginalized by the Neo-Left because they don’t fit the image that is
needed to push their true agenda which is to collapse capitalism and instill a
socialistic order. This group is ignored by the Righteous-Right because they
appear to be able to help themselves if they would just work a little harder or
just not be so lazy.
The big problem
with the poor in pocket is that they are the working poor. The working poor are
not going to be helped by raising their wages, which is a very popular idea
right now. They will not be helped by getting more jobs. This group needs two
things that will help them to step out of their poverty. The first thing they
need is education. Now I lean toward a Liberal education, by that I mean a
broad education not necessarily a job training education. I feel that a liberal
education broadens the mind and helps to create people that are thinkers not
drones. The second thing that most of the working poor could use is free
medical for their children, and access to good healthy food.
What hurts the
working poor and keeps them from gaining access to programs that already exist
is that they make too much money. So they are trapped. This trap keeps them
from qualifying for federal, state, and local assistance. It creates in them a
struggle to stay financially where they are hoping that perhaps they will get a
raise or that a better job will come along.
Or it creates in them the second group of the impoverished.
The Poor in Heart
The poor in heart are
much more difficult to help. They are in need of a change of heart and a change
of mind. The easy way to “fix” this group is to remove all help and aid. That
however would only cause desperate measures and riots from a group of people
that have made careers out being impoverished. Removing the aid would create in
them a desperate need to survive, however because they are so entrenched in a
system that keeps and enslaves them in their mind and heart they would actually
not rise to the occasion but they would wither and die. Now to some in
Righteous-Right that would be an acceptable outcome. To the Neo-Left this group
is fodder for the cannons. Mostly minority by race, this group is in fact the
poster child used to make the white wealthy feel guilty and to continue to pour
money into systems that are actually enslaving the group making these well-meaning
liberals the new plantation owners of this generation.
This group, the poor
in heart, unfortunately live up to their stereotypes. They are the people that
have no source of income save the welfare that they receive and will move
around the country to take advantage of states that have easier or “better”
systems of assistance. They buy all of their foods using food stamps and
although they do not eat as well as the middle class or the rich they eat far
better than the working poor. Most of the frustration you hear about this group
comes from the working poor simply because they cannot receive the same
assistance that the poor in heart receive.
So what is the
answer for this group? That is a tougher question. They don’t need a hand up,
they don’t need a better education. What they need is a change of societal
acceptability. Fraud needs to be curtailed not by jail time, that would only overwhelm
our prison systems but by enforcing the standards that are already in the
system. This group needs a change of heart, they need to understand that they
are worthy humans capable of great and wonderful things. They need to
understand that their financial status does not define who they are.
The Big Picture
In this essay I
do not attempt to solve the problem of poverty. I do not come to you like
Jonathan Swift with a Modest Proposal. I do come to you and hope that you can
better understand that the problem of poverty is only partially a problem of
finance. If we do as the Neo-Left ask us to do the poor in the heart will
become the majority ruled by an elite class. If we do as the Righteous-Right
proclaim there will be conflict and wars and rumors of wars. So the answer does
not rest in the hands of the political pundits or their croneys. The answer
rests in the hands of the writers and educators, the priest and the preacher.
We must change the hearts of men so that they strive to better themselves not
because they can make more money but so they can make a difference. Our heroes
need to be those that look out for the needs of others more than the needs of
themselves. Our heroes do not need to be defined by their G6 or the size of the
Escalade, 0ur heroes need to be the Lover’s not the famous.
- The Pastor
