Homeless, unemployed and lower income individuals are pressured to do more for themselves, to get a job (or a second job), to elevate themselves out of poverty.
But sometimes it's not just about getting a job, it's about something else. It's about not being able to cope with the pressures and demands of our modern day society.
Our modern day lives are a complicated mess of family, friends, school, work, hobbies, other interests, bills and other expenses etc. It's a lot to juggle, it's a lot to manage, and it's exhausting.
We're all different and we have different degrees of stamina and endurance. A few people can cope quite easily, most struggle to keep up, and some can't cope at all, they don't have the ability to manage their lives in the society that we've created, it's all too much. And rightfully so, it IS all too much.
Sometimes it has to do with mental health, but most of the time it has to do with the pressures and demands that we've created in our modern day society. Most people are burning the candle at both ends, which isn't sustainable. They'll reach a breaking point, and some already have.
Just because a person can't cope with the pressures and demands of our modern day society, doesn't mean that they should live in poverty. We should simply acknowledge that they can't cope, and those who can help, should. And we should change our society.
Imagine this: Some people experience states where even a simple thing such as having a shower becomes a huge chore. If you've never experienced such a thing you'd find it hard to believe. However, imagine if someone's struggling to have a shower, how will they get and keep a job? How will they do other things, such as go grocery shopping, cook meals, do household chores, manage bills and expenses etc.?
These people need a tremendous amount of support and a job is the least of their worries. We look after children in every way and sometimes we have to look after some adults in every way, by providing for their basic needs (food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare etc.) without expecting anything in return.
We all assume that people are capable of anything, if they put their mind to it. That's true to some degree; however, we should acknowledge that we're all different and we go through different states. We should have sympathy, compassion and understanding for one another.
A society that has homelessness and poverty isn't a reflection of the homeless and poor, it's a reflection of a society that hasn't done enough to alleviate homelessness and poverty. It means that there's something wrong with the society, not that there's something wrong with the homeless and poor.
We need to create a new society, one that's built on the quality of bestowal, where everyone contributes to society, and in turn society looks after us.
We need to simplify our lives and focus only on meeting our basic needs - food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education etc. This will simplify our lives, improve our health, and improve the connect between us, and between us and all of Nature.
In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.
Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.
Showing posts with label Poverty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poverty. Show all posts
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Poverty Exists Because The Rich Don't Help
Whenever issues of poverty are discussed, the tendency is to blame the poor - they're not doing enough to help themselves. The truth is that poverty exists because the rich don't share, they don't do enough to help others. The rich use their God-given talents, attributes and riches to help themselves. If the rich took care of others, there'd be no poverty. Poverty exists because the rich don't care for others, they care only for themselves.
Today, we're immersed in the quality of selfishness, seeking to benefit ourselves with no regard for others. We've adopted competition (instead of collaboration) as our modus operandi, and when it comes to wealth, this creates a huge discrepancy between the rich and the poor.
There's only so much wealth to go around, it's finite, yet we expect everyone to compete for their share of the pie. We're all different, we have different talents, skills, attributes etc., and some people are simply better competitors than others - this is reflected in the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor:
Today, we're immersed in the quality of selfishness, seeking to benefit ourselves with no regard for others. We've adopted competition (instead of collaboration) as our modus operandi, and when it comes to wealth, this creates a huge discrepancy between the rich and the poor.
There's only so much wealth to go around, it's finite, yet we expect everyone to compete for their share of the pie. We're all different, we have different talents, skills, attributes etc., and some people are simply better competitors than others - this is reflected in the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor:
- Total world wealth is ~USD $241 trillion. [1]
- 1% of the world's population owns 46% of the world's wealth (USD $110 trillion). [2]
- 10% of the world's population owns 86% of the world's wealth (USD $207 trillion). [3]
- 30% of the world's population owns 97% of the world's wealth (USD $234 trillion), the other 70% of the world's population owns 3% of the world's wealth (USD 7 trillion). [4]
- 50% of the world's population owns 99.3% of the world's wealth (USD $239 trillion), while the bottom 50% owns 0.71% of the world's wealth (USD 1.71 trillion). [5]
- 1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty. [6]
- 2.2 billion people are poor or near-poor. [7]
Aggressive competition is destructive and extremely unfair. It's akin to having $10 and asking 10 people to share it - 3 people would end up sharing $9.70, while 7 people would share $0.30.
In competition, there's always a winner and a loser, a natural consequence of our differences. However, when competition becomes a matter of life and death - such as when the rich enjoy the highest standard of living, while others don't have food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare etc, it's simply unfair, especially when the rich have the means to help others.
We have to change from personal selfishness to mutual bestowal. We have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. We have to embrace collaboration, cooperation and basic sharing. We're all one family and we have to start behaving as one family.
The role of the rich (and those who are blessed with God-given talents, attributes and riches) is to help others. If poverty exists, it's because the rich aren't fulfilling their role. The annual income of the richest 100 people would be enough to end world poverty four times over. [8]
Round tables need to be established to seek to eliminate world poverty.
We have to simplify our lives and focus only on meeting our basic needs - food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education etc.
In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.
In competition, there's always a winner and a loser, a natural consequence of our differences. However, when competition becomes a matter of life and death - such as when the rich enjoy the highest standard of living, while others don't have food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare etc, it's simply unfair, especially when the rich have the means to help others.
We have to change from personal selfishness to mutual bestowal. We have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. We have to embrace collaboration, cooperation and basic sharing. We're all one family and we have to start behaving as one family.
The role of the rich (and those who are blessed with God-given talents, attributes and riches) is to help others. If poverty exists, it's because the rich aren't fulfilling their role. The annual income of the richest 100 people would be enough to end world poverty four times over. [8]
Round tables need to be established to seek to eliminate world poverty.
We have to simplify our lives and focus only on meeting our basic needs - food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education etc.
In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.
_____
References:
- Working For The Few (PDF). www.oxfam.org. 178 Oxfam Briefing Paper - Summary, 20 January 2014, page 5. Retrieved Sept 25, 2014.
- Ibid.
- Working For The Few (PDF). www.oxfam.org. 178 Oxfam Briefing Paper, 20 January 2014, page 9. Retrieved Sept 25, 2014.
- Ibid.
- Working For The Few (PDF). www.oxfam.org. 178 Oxfam Briefing Paper - Summary, 20 January 2014, page 5. Retrieved Sept 25, 2014
- Eradicate Extreme Poverty And Hunger. Where do we stand? United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Millennium Development Goals. Retrieved Sept 25, 2014.
- 2.2 billion people are poor or near poor, warns 2014 Human Development Report on vulnerability and resilience. United Nations Development Program (UNDP). 24 Jul 2014. Retrieved Sept 25, 2014.
- Annual income of richest 100 people enough to end global poverty four times over. www.oxfam.org. 19 January 2013. Retrieved Sept 23, 2014.
Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
A Letter To People In Prison
From:
Carter Kagume
To:
People In Prison
Dear people in prison,
Change is coming to the entire world and it's going to affect us all. Our internal qualities are going to change from the quality of selfishness to the quality of bestowal/love of others/altruism.
The Quality Of Selfishness
Currently, we're all immersed in the quality of selfishness, we seek to benefit ourselves with no regard for others. We seek personal profit and gain, even at the expense of others.
Selfishness leads to crime, hatred, revenge, corruption and other destructive behaviour that harms people, animals, the environment and society as a whole.
The quality of selfishness is a prison because a person becomes trapped in their selfish ways and they become separated from God and from others.
Selfish destructive behaviour causes fear, tension, stress and unhappiness in people and in society as a whole. Selfish behaviour has to stop.
The Quality of Bestowal
Our internal qualities have to change from selfishness to bestowal, we have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. We have to think of others instead of ourselves.
It's not just about making other people happy because there are many destructive things that make people 'happy'. It's about benefiting others - doing what's good for them.
The One True God, The Infinite God, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the only one who can change a person's internal qualities. Ask Him for help and He'll change you.
When our internal qualities change from selfishness to bestowal, we'll become connected to God in quality because our internal qualities will become similar to God's quality.
Also, we'll become connected to each other in mutual concern and responsibility and we'll become genuinely concerned for each other's welfare and well-being.
This connection, with God and with each other, will bring us spiritual nourishment, fulfillment and pleasure, which will make us very happy.
The quality of bestowal is true freedom because it frees a person from the quality of selfishness. A person become free to connect with God and to connect with others.
We connect with others by seeking to benefit them, by taking care of them. When we take care of others, we free them, and when they take care of us, they free us. We free each other in mutual care and responsibility. This interconnection creates a sense of freedom.
Crime
Crime happens because of the quality of selfishness, because people seek personal profit and gain with no regard for others.
The quality of selfishness is a destructive force that has a negative impact on us, on others and on society as a whole.
Some people cause physical harm to others - murder, rape, assault, robbery, child abuse and neglect, family violence etc. This has to stop.
Some people cause harm to other people's property - burglary, theft/larceny, auto theft, arson etc. This has to stop.
Some people cause harm to themselves and to others - prostitution, illegal gambling, illicit drugs etc. This has to stop.
Some people exploit others - embezzling, insider trading, tax evasion, fraud, corruption, bribery etc. This has to stop.
Some people get involved in organized crime - mafia, thugs and gangs, drug cartels, money laundering, weapons smuggling, human trafficking etc. This has to stop.
We have to stop harming others. Instead, we have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.
We have to become genuinely concern for the welfare and well-being of others, and we have to take care of each other as one family, in mutual concern and responsibility.
Police
The police force, the criminal code, law enforcement etc. exist because of the quality of selfishness. These systems exist to protect us from one another because we harm each other.
If our internal qualities change from selfishness to bestowal, the police force, the criminal code, law enforcement and prisons will disappear.
They'll become unnecessary because we won't harm each other. Rather, we'll seek to benefit each other and we'll take care of each other in mutual concern and responsibility.
Laws
Laws exist in all of nature and we're expected to comply with them. For example, if we don't respect the law of gravity, we're going to get hurt.
Everyone is obligated to comply with the laws of the land, it's a standard requirement expected of all citizens. Laws are necessary to organize communal life.
Even love has it's laws. The law of the quality of bestowal is: seek to benefit others instead of yourself. This law will replace all the laws that now exist because of the quality of selfishness.
Rights And Freedoms
Individual rights and freedoms are an illusion because we're all immersed in the quality of selfishness. The freedom to pick our poison isn't true freedom because we only move from one form of misery to another form of misery.
True freedom comes from being in the quality of bestowal, from connecting to God and to others. We become free from ourselves, free form the quality of selfishness.
Our true rights? We have the right to leave the quality of selfishness for the quality of bestowal and we have the right to benefit others in as many ways as possible.
Influence Of Our Social Environment
Our social environment has a big influence on us. If our social environment is selfish, it teaches us to be selfish. If our social environment is altruistic, it teaches us to be altruistic.
We should be aware of two things: first, the influence our social environment has on us, and second, the influence we have on our social environment.
We should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves and by doing so, we'll influence others to do the same. In this way we'll have a positive influence on others and on society as a whole.
Poverty
Poverty is often linked to crime - 'if you have nothing, you have nothing to lose'. However, criminal behaviour harms everyone, individuals, communities and society as a whole.
If our internal qualities change to bestowal, and we seek to benefit others instead of ourselves, poverty will disappear because we'll take care of each other in mutual responsibility.
By caring for each other, everyone around the world will live above the poverty line and everyone will enjoy a dignified standard of living.
Youth
Young people often engage in crime - due to peer pressure, negative influences, drugs and alcohol, out of boredom, to fit in, rebel, prove themselves etc.
We all have to change - children, youth and adults alike. Our internal qualities have to change from selfishness to bestowal.
Children learn from their parents. If adults seek to benefit others instead of themselves, they'll influence their children to do the same.
In this way, children and youth will become kind, caring and compassionate. They won't harm others, instead, they'll seek to benefit others in mutual concern and responsibility.
Drugs And Alcohol
Some people engage in criminal behaviour due to the influence of drugs and alcohol. They hurt themselves, others and society as a whole.
When our internal qualities change from selfishness to bestowal, people will want to be sober because they'll want to be in the right frame of mind so as to benefit others.
We Are One Family
Communities that have been oppressed and/or have been made to feel that they don't belong, become fractured and they suffer from social challenges such as crime, drugs and alcohol.
No one should be in prison, but for comparison purposes, if purple people made up 30% of the total population, then you'd expect them to make up 30% of the prison population.
However, some communities are over-represented in prison:
In the USA, blacks are 12% of the total population and 40% of the prison population.
In South Africa, coloureds are 9% of the total population and 18 % of the prison population.
In Canada, Aboriginals are 2.5% of the total population and 20 % of the prison population.
In Australia, Aboriginals are 2.3% of the total population and 25% of the prison population.
These communities have been made to feel that they don't belong and the consequences are obvious.
When our internal qualities change from selfishness to bestowal, we'll connect with each other in mutual concern and responsibility. Everyone will feel that they belong.
We'll become interconnected and interdependent, so everyone will feel included. Everyone will contribute and everyone will participate in building the new society.
In this way, we'll become connected as one family. We are all one family and we should start behaving like one family. We should treat each other with kindness, respect, compassion, tolerance, empathy and love.
Divine Intervention
Everyone has to take personal responsibility and accountability for their own actions, and there's no excuse for destructive behaviour that harms others. However, there's more.
We're all operated from above - everything that happens, happens for a reason. It's meant to be. Meaning, we're not responsible for our actions because we're operated from above.
Through divine intervention, God turns negative events into something positive. Crime and other negative actions tell a positive story of our internal qualities - how we'll change from selfishness to bestowal.
I'm not saying that we should engage in negative behaviour, not at all. In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.
I'm saying that God Himself will reveal The Truth and The Truth will set us all free.
Summary
Our internal qualities have to change from selfishness to bestowal, we have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. All selfish destructive behaviour has to end.
We have to stop harming others and we have to become genuinely concerned for each other's welfare and well-being.
In this way, we'll connect to God in quality and we'll connect to each other in mutual responsibility. Poverty will end, prisons will empty and law enforcement will disappear.
Life as we know it will change for the better and we'll become united as one family.
May The One True God, The Infinite God, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob guide you, may He lead you and may He show you the way. We'll succeed, but only together.
Know that you are loved.
God is with us and to Him we shall all return.
Carter
Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.
Carter Kagume
To:
People In Prison
Dear people in prison,
Change is coming to the entire world and it's going to affect us all. Our internal qualities are going to change from the quality of selfishness to the quality of bestowal/love of others/altruism.
The Quality Of Selfishness
Currently, we're all immersed in the quality of selfishness, we seek to benefit ourselves with no regard for others. We seek personal profit and gain, even at the expense of others.
Selfishness leads to crime, hatred, revenge, corruption and other destructive behaviour that harms people, animals, the environment and society as a whole.
The quality of selfishness is a prison because a person becomes trapped in their selfish ways and they become separated from God and from others.
Selfish destructive behaviour causes fear, tension, stress and unhappiness in people and in society as a whole. Selfish behaviour has to stop.
The Quality of Bestowal
Our internal qualities have to change from selfishness to bestowal, we have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. We have to think of others instead of ourselves.
It's not just about making other people happy because there are many destructive things that make people 'happy'. It's about benefiting others - doing what's good for them.
The One True God, The Infinite God, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the only one who can change a person's internal qualities. Ask Him for help and He'll change you.
When our internal qualities change from selfishness to bestowal, we'll become connected to God in quality because our internal qualities will become similar to God's quality.
Also, we'll become connected to each other in mutual concern and responsibility and we'll become genuinely concerned for each other's welfare and well-being.
This connection, with God and with each other, will bring us spiritual nourishment, fulfillment and pleasure, which will make us very happy.
The quality of bestowal is true freedom because it frees a person from the quality of selfishness. A person become free to connect with God and to connect with others.
We connect with others by seeking to benefit them, by taking care of them. When we take care of others, we free them, and when they take care of us, they free us. We free each other in mutual care and responsibility. This interconnection creates a sense of freedom.
Crime
Crime happens because of the quality of selfishness, because people seek personal profit and gain with no regard for others.
The quality of selfishness is a destructive force that has a negative impact on us, on others and on society as a whole.
Some people cause physical harm to others - murder, rape, assault, robbery, child abuse and neglect, family violence etc. This has to stop.
Some people cause harm to other people's property - burglary, theft/larceny, auto theft, arson etc. This has to stop.
Some people cause harm to themselves and to others - prostitution, illegal gambling, illicit drugs etc. This has to stop.
Some people exploit others - embezzling, insider trading, tax evasion, fraud, corruption, bribery etc. This has to stop.
Some people get involved in organized crime - mafia, thugs and gangs, drug cartels, money laundering, weapons smuggling, human trafficking etc. This has to stop.
We have to stop harming others. Instead, we have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.
We have to become genuinely concern for the welfare and well-being of others, and we have to take care of each other as one family, in mutual concern and responsibility.
Police
The police force, the criminal code, law enforcement etc. exist because of the quality of selfishness. These systems exist to protect us from one another because we harm each other.
If our internal qualities change from selfishness to bestowal, the police force, the criminal code, law enforcement and prisons will disappear.
They'll become unnecessary because we won't harm each other. Rather, we'll seek to benefit each other and we'll take care of each other in mutual concern and responsibility.
Laws
Laws exist in all of nature and we're expected to comply with them. For example, if we don't respect the law of gravity, we're going to get hurt.
Everyone is obligated to comply with the laws of the land, it's a standard requirement expected of all citizens. Laws are necessary to organize communal life.
Even love has it's laws. The law of the quality of bestowal is: seek to benefit others instead of yourself. This law will replace all the laws that now exist because of the quality of selfishness.
Rights And Freedoms
Individual rights and freedoms are an illusion because we're all immersed in the quality of selfishness. The freedom to pick our poison isn't true freedom because we only move from one form of misery to another form of misery.
True freedom comes from being in the quality of bestowal, from connecting to God and to others. We become free from ourselves, free form the quality of selfishness.
Our true rights? We have the right to leave the quality of selfishness for the quality of bestowal and we have the right to benefit others in as many ways as possible.
Influence Of Our Social Environment
Our social environment has a big influence on us. If our social environment is selfish, it teaches us to be selfish. If our social environment is altruistic, it teaches us to be altruistic.
We should be aware of two things: first, the influence our social environment has on us, and second, the influence we have on our social environment.
We should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves and by doing so, we'll influence others to do the same. In this way we'll have a positive influence on others and on society as a whole.
Poverty
Poverty is often linked to crime - 'if you have nothing, you have nothing to lose'. However, criminal behaviour harms everyone, individuals, communities and society as a whole.
If our internal qualities change to bestowal, and we seek to benefit others instead of ourselves, poverty will disappear because we'll take care of each other in mutual responsibility.
By caring for each other, everyone around the world will live above the poverty line and everyone will enjoy a dignified standard of living.
Youth
Young people often engage in crime - due to peer pressure, negative influences, drugs and alcohol, out of boredom, to fit in, rebel, prove themselves etc.
We all have to change - children, youth and adults alike. Our internal qualities have to change from selfishness to bestowal.
Children learn from their parents. If adults seek to benefit others instead of themselves, they'll influence their children to do the same.
In this way, children and youth will become kind, caring and compassionate. They won't harm others, instead, they'll seek to benefit others in mutual concern and responsibility.
Drugs And Alcohol
Some people engage in criminal behaviour due to the influence of drugs and alcohol. They hurt themselves, others and society as a whole.
When our internal qualities change from selfishness to bestowal, people will want to be sober because they'll want to be in the right frame of mind so as to benefit others.
We Are One Family
Communities that have been oppressed and/or have been made to feel that they don't belong, become fractured and they suffer from social challenges such as crime, drugs and alcohol.
No one should be in prison, but for comparison purposes, if purple people made up 30% of the total population, then you'd expect them to make up 30% of the prison population.
However, some communities are over-represented in prison:
In the USA, blacks are 12% of the total population and 40% of the prison population.
In South Africa, coloureds are 9% of the total population and 18 % of the prison population.
In Canada, Aboriginals are 2.5% of the total population and 20 % of the prison population.
In Australia, Aboriginals are 2.3% of the total population and 25% of the prison population.
These communities have been made to feel that they don't belong and the consequences are obvious.
When our internal qualities change from selfishness to bestowal, we'll connect with each other in mutual concern and responsibility. Everyone will feel that they belong.
We'll become interconnected and interdependent, so everyone will feel included. Everyone will contribute and everyone will participate in building the new society.
In this way, we'll become connected as one family. We are all one family and we should start behaving like one family. We should treat each other with kindness, respect, compassion, tolerance, empathy and love.
Divine Intervention
Everyone has to take personal responsibility and accountability for their own actions, and there's no excuse for destructive behaviour that harms others. However, there's more.
We're all operated from above - everything that happens, happens for a reason. It's meant to be. Meaning, we're not responsible for our actions because we're operated from above.
Through divine intervention, God turns negative events into something positive. Crime and other negative actions tell a positive story of our internal qualities - how we'll change from selfishness to bestowal.
I'm not saying that we should engage in negative behaviour, not at all. In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.
I'm saying that God Himself will reveal The Truth and The Truth will set us all free.
Summary
Our internal qualities have to change from selfishness to bestowal, we have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. All selfish destructive behaviour has to end.
We have to stop harming others and we have to become genuinely concerned for each other's welfare and well-being.
In this way, we'll connect to God in quality and we'll connect to each other in mutual responsibility. Poverty will end, prisons will empty and law enforcement will disappear.
Life as we know it will change for the better and we'll become united as one family.
May The One True God, The Infinite God, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob guide you, may He lead you and may He show you the way. We'll succeed, but only together.
Know that you are loved.
God is with us and to Him we shall all return.
Carter
Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Let's Make Sure The Poor Never Live in Poverty
Jesus said, " The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want ..." (Mark 14:7, NIV)
He said, "The poor you will always have with you ..." He didn't say, '... the poor will always live in poverty ...' He also said, "... you can help them ..."
Meaning there will always be poor people with us, but it doesn't mean they have to live in poverty. It means it's our responsibility to look after them (and each other) so everyone has a dignified standard of living.
There Will Always Be Poor People
There will always be poor people in society, people who for one reason or another aren't able to provide for themselves, or have a dignified standard of living.
Some may be perpetually poor (several generations of poverty), some may be in and out of poverty and some may be new to poverty due to some unforeseen event such as bankruptcy, job loss, illness, etc.
There are many reasons people may be poor: physical limitations, mental limitations, lack of ability, lack of drive, lack of ambition, lack of desire to acquire a higher standard of living, influence of the environment, addiction, unforeseen events and circumstances and many other reasons.
We're Not All The Same
Some people claim that hard work leads to success and that poor people are poor because they haven't done enough to change their own circumstances
The expectation is that everyone should work equally hard.
The assumption is that everyone can work equally hard.
The assumption that everyone can work equally hard is very cruel. It assumes that we're all the same, that we all have the same desires, expectations, ambitions and abilities.
But we're all very different. Our physical characteristics are different, our likes and dislikes are different and we all have different abilities to produce and create, even when it comes to creating the quality of our own lives.
When you begin to appreciate that we're all different, criticism turns to compassion. You become sympathetic of others, especially the poor.
The World Is One Family
The world is one family and it is our responsibility to look after each other. We have to take care of one another in mutual concern and consideration.
We have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. In this way we become guarantors for one other. I look after you and you look after me.
Through mutually responsible we'll take care of all members of society, including the poor. We'll create a dignified standard of living for everybody.
As Jesus said, "The poor you will always have with you ...", let's just make sure the poor never live in poverty.
Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.
He said, "The poor you will always have with you ..." He didn't say, '... the poor will always live in poverty ...' He also said, "... you can help them ..."
Meaning there will always be poor people with us, but it doesn't mean they have to live in poverty. It means it's our responsibility to look after them (and each other) so everyone has a dignified standard of living.
There Will Always Be Poor People
There will always be poor people in society, people who for one reason or another aren't able to provide for themselves, or have a dignified standard of living.
Some may be perpetually poor (several generations of poverty), some may be in and out of poverty and some may be new to poverty due to some unforeseen event such as bankruptcy, job loss, illness, etc.
There are many reasons people may be poor: physical limitations, mental limitations, lack of ability, lack of drive, lack of ambition, lack of desire to acquire a higher standard of living, influence of the environment, addiction, unforeseen events and circumstances and many other reasons.
We're Not All The Same
Some people claim that hard work leads to success and that poor people are poor because they haven't done enough to change their own circumstances
The expectation is that everyone should work equally hard.
The assumption is that everyone can work equally hard.
The assumption that everyone can work equally hard is very cruel. It assumes that we're all the same, that we all have the same desires, expectations, ambitions and abilities.
But we're all very different. Our physical characteristics are different, our likes and dislikes are different and we all have different abilities to produce and create, even when it comes to creating the quality of our own lives.
When you begin to appreciate that we're all different, criticism turns to compassion. You become sympathetic of others, especially the poor.
The World Is One Family
The world is one family and it is our responsibility to look after each other. We have to take care of one another in mutual concern and consideration.
We have to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. In this way we become guarantors for one other. I look after you and you look after me.
Through mutually responsible we'll take care of all members of society, including the poor. We'll create a dignified standard of living for everybody.
As Jesus said, "The poor you will always have with you ...", let's just make sure the poor never live in poverty.
Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)