What is Poverty - Part Two
By Bob Kasieta, Board President
Last month in this space, we explored the imprecise definition of poverty. Defining poverty is not an irrelevant, abstract exercise. Our definition explains, even governs, how we fight poverty.
I suggested that poverty is a limit on choices because of too few resources. Poverty is a condition. Poverty is not a poor person. People and social media sometimes blame the poor for poverty. It is easier to look away and not help if we can blame poor people for their own suffering. There is a phrase that captures this concept: “deserving poor.” That separates people living in poverty into two groups – those worthy of our help and those unworthy. It might be tempting to judge our neighbors to decide whether we think they merit our help. But here’s the stark, universal truth: we are all imperfect and we all need each other’s help. Each of us, regardless of our station in life, needs others. We like to think that we are self-made and independent. But it isn’t true.
Recall someone who helped you with your education, profession, or life. Where would you be without that person? Think harder. Who else set you on your path, smoothed the bumps in the road, or eased your weariness when the journey wore you down? These might have been people you didn’t even know well – a teacher who tutored you in a difficult area, a daycare provider who was always willing to wait when you were late from work, a colleague who covered for you, a city employee that you never met who got up in the middle of the night to clear the streets so you could travel safely to work. We all benefit by people who support us in big and small ways, even when they could easily have turned their backs. Is your success any less sweet because you needed help to attain it? Are you less of a person because you couldn’t do it all yourself? Of course not. Did these wonderful people who helped you on your way judge whether you were worthy of their charitable acts? They did not. Those who hear a scriptural call know it well: “Judge not, lest you be judged.”
Why would we apply a different standard to our neighbors in need? What gives us the right to judge others when we ourselves have benefited from the non-judgmental charity of so many people? Here are three harder questions: Have you ever made bad decisions that harmed you and your family, never intending harm? Have you ever been the innocent recipient of bad luck or bad news or bad genes, over which you had no control? Do you have sufficient understanding of anyone else’s life to sit in judgment? The answers to those questions direct the response to poverty.
For me, the answers came from a woman in Northern Michigan with three young kids, whose husband abandoned her with no support, who took two jobs to pay the bills, who was not able to provide for herself or for her family everything she would have liked to provide, but who did the best she could to keep her children clothed, fed, and healthy while living well below the poverty line. That woman was my mother. Knowing how she struggled prevents me from ever judging anyone else’s pain. Was she perfect? No. But none of us has any right to expect perfection from others – or from ourselves.
Who are the “deserving poor?” Who knows. Once we recognize that, the concept of “deserving poor” has no place in the discussion. It is irrelevant. We are, all of us, just fellow travelers on earth, trying to do the best we can. Some merely get by. Others prosper. We all fail if we don’t see the suffering of our fellows and do what we can to heal it. We don’t get to judge. We get to help. This is not egalitarian or utopian or unrealistic. In the last analysis, it is the only way that we can live as a community. It is practical.
Our response to poverty gives people choices. We provide groceries to a family, and that family is able to address other obligations. A senior citizen can afford rent and prescriptions with a little help from the food pantry. The farm family can worry less about lean years. We can all enjoy a better society. There’s no idealism there – just truth.
The worst kind of poverty will always be the poverty of spirit that will not help, that will not stand against injustice, that will not care. Thank you for fighting poverty. During this Volunteer Appreciation Month, there can be no greater honor. Thank you for all you do.t all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.