Essays On Poverty
Poverty is such a simple word, but it is so complicated at the same time. The vast majority of individuals will not fully comprehend the real implication of poverty just by reading its literal meaning from the dictionary, but by learning from their surroundings and experiencing hardship itself. Defining poverty can be being poor financially but is also defined as a comfortable way of living as well as spiritually too.
What does it mean actually to be poor? Most people think that being poor consists of not being able to pay the bills or mortgage on their home. Some may say that it is not having enough food that people have to search for leftovers in the garbage while living on the street. Poverty defined is âthe state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessionsâ (Merriam-Webster 2018). Poverty forces an individual to plan out or decide what items are enticing, significant, and luxurious. It forces the needs and wants to be placed as not essential to life and overall self-worth. Life with poverty removes the irrelevancies in life by making the poor focus on what they need rather than what they want to do. The word poverty can be a multitude of different subjects such as having only a few necessities in life.
Majority of the time people see poverty as a negative more than a positive. With the word, poverty does not mean it is necessarily wrong all the time. When people are financially unstable, it can feel challenging to concentrate on being cheerful, especially if they worry too much about how they will make ends meet or wonder if they will be able to put food on the table. âMany people feel that in order to be happy that you need to have certain thingsâ (Caldwell 2017). Many individuals who do not have a considerable amount of wealth look for experiences rather than materialistic items. An example of this is siblings who are going outside to play using their imagination. The children go on backyard adventures, play basketball, and look at the sky enjoying every single moment of their life. While all of this happening, the children do not realize how much confliction the parents are going through to try and make ends meet. Even though the parents are struggling financially, they find time for new memories without the use of money. Poverty does not always mean bad in a sense, but it is how people perceive it.
The word poverty does not always have to mean the need for physical items, but it could be the need for spiritual items as well. Spiritual poverty is the lack of ability to acquire religious items rather than materialistic items. âSo, in this regard, being poor in spirit means recognizing oneâs inability to buy, earn, deserve, or purchase spiritual blessings, that without the intervention of another, rich benefactor, one is damned (stopped) in his ability to grow spirituallyâ (Degraw 1). Poverty in spirit means being able to realize how to turn to someone who can provide the spiritual background some individuals do not acquire. Without possessing spiritual poverty, one could never truly recognize their need for help, so one would never ask for advice nor benefit from it. Being poor in spirit allows an individual to recognize the need for a savior or a religious figure, to plead for what they cannot obtain on their own. Poverty in spirit prioritizes a personâs religious purchases instead of items that will not help advance them spirituality. The thought of poverty is better than the idea of being rich in spirit. Being rich in spirit limits blessings by what can be truly achieved and obtained on oneâs life by eliminating their needs. This idea of spiritual richness leads one to believe they need no help, due to their belief they can have it all right now. It allows one to simplify life and eliminate obstacles to spiritual growth. Having poverty in spirit eliminates any unnecessary distractions and irrelevancies from an individualâs own life by focusing on their spiritual need rather than what they want to do.
Alienation, which means emotional isolation or dissociation, has been a very common theme among modern writers. This alienation is a major offshoot of the industrial revolution. Today, it has taken deep roots in everyday life, in science, in philosophy, in psychology, sociology and literature- covering a large panorama of almost every aspect of manâs activity. […]
Jo Goodwin Parkerâs essay, âWhat is Poverty? â is about Parker who has personally experienced rural poverty. She explains her story from childhood to adulthood. Parkerâs struggles are overwhelming; look at any sentence, the evidence of her daily struggle is there. From her underwear to living arrangements, and everything in between, Parker resides in poverty. […]
The paper attempts to explain the phenomenon of rapid mass urbanisation and its social consequences, the formation of huge urban slums and new forms of urban poverty. It explores the poverty and vulnerability focusing on the pattern of employment, income, consumption and asset vulnerability. The study is mainly based on primary data collected from slums […]
The European Union defines poverty as âPersons, families and groups of persons whose resources (material, cultural and social) are so limited as to exclude them from the minimum acceptable way of life in the Member State to which they belongâ (as quoted in âPoverty â Definition and Measurementâ). In the United States, when an individualâs […]
There may be varying meanings and definitions of poverty. In general terms poverty may be referred as lack of resources to fulfill basic needs of daily living of oneself and ones family. The World Bank however describes poverty as living on less than US$ 3 per day, and extreme poverty as less than $1 a […]
Poverty has a strong effect on the success and development of children from infant to early childhood. In the article, âHow much does childhood poverty affect the life chances of children? â Greg J. Duncan and colleagues attempt to examine the influence of poverty upon children through their developmental stages of early childhood. The basic […]
In the article âManufacturing Mammies: The Burdens of Service Work and Welfare Reform among Battered Black Womenâ Dana-Ain Davis discusses the impact of welfare reform and economic restructuring on well-being of African-American women in the USA. The author argues that contemporary welfare reform is supported by conservative policy and it aims at helping the poor […]
After reading chapter 10 in my educational psychology book and learning about Albert Bandura and his Social Cognitive Theory, I knew that I had to report on self-efficacy, but I also wanted to make sure to touch on the effects of poverty that has been discussed throughout the book as well. Poverty is an issue […]
In the textbook Families in Poverty by Seccombe (2007), she gives 4 explanations for poverty, which one do you think best explains poverty? Why? Seccombe introduces Individualism, Social Structuralism, Culture of Poverty, and Fatalism in attempt to explain the existence of poverty. All four of them together seem to cover all aspects of poverty and […]
Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed did an investigation about living conditions of workers who were regarded as unskilled and low-wage employees. Ehrenreich also wanted to figure out how millions of women are able to survive on $6 or $7 an hour after welfare reform (Ehrenreich 1). The article The Limits of Policy […]
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or widely known as 4 Ps is a human development program of the national government that invests in the health and education of poor households, particularly of children whose age ranges from 0-14 yrs. old (pantawid.dswd.gov.ph/?) This program aims to eradicate poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender […]
Today, Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs), mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes represent a leading threat to human health and development. These four diseases are the world’s biggest killers, causing an estimated 35 million deaths each year – 60% of all deaths globally – with 80% in low- and middle-income countries. These diseases […]
Across our society’s timeline, poverty has consistently remained a prominent concern. This issue existed prior to the arrival of foreign settlers and persists despite the presence of a talented population in our country. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and the world’s wealthiest individual, expressed that “If you are born poor itâs not your mistake, […]
In this coursework, an analysis will be conducted on charity advertisements from two organizations: Christian Aid and Christian Children’s Fund. Both charities share the common goal of raising funds to support those in need. Christian Aid predominantly assists poor individuals, while Christian Children’s Fund primarily aids young children. The primary objective of these advertisements is […]
The financial problems of the Crown were hugely important in bringing about the French Revolution. However the constitution of France itself at the time was also a major factor of its downfall. The financial problems included the weakness of the tax system, the poor harvests during the 1780s and the war debt accumulated from the […]
In this essay, we will be looking at the effect that different socio-economic factors have on educational achievement in schools. It is a fact that girls out-perform boys at every level from SATS to A-Level, making them more likely to move on to higher education. This year, the gap in gender achievement was at a […]
This is the inconvenient truth- wars have been a part of our history from the beginning of time. Conflicts arising from different countries, colonies or communities have led to wars; sometimes for the greater good or sometimes for greed. What the people of the country fail to realize is the aftermath of these wars- the […]
In this essay I will compare two poems from different cultures: “Night of the Scorpion” by Nissim Ezekiel and “Nothing’s Changed” by Tatamkhulu Africa. Both poems convey a sense of poverty, but while in “Night of the Scorpion” the neighbors unite and support each other, in “Nothing’s Changed” the community remains divided due to racism. […]
Throughout the history of life on Earth, suffering has been an integral part of our existence. Unfortunately, there are instances where people unintentionally inflict pain upon one another. Each individual holds their own set of values, whether it be dignity, pride, wealth and power, or physical beauty and allure. Depending on the person, disregard or […]
The Christian belief is that money can be used for benevolent purposes, such as aiding those in need. Christians are required to acquire riches through ethical methods and recognize that what they receive is a present from God and not exclusively their own possession. In Timothy 6, Jesus affirms religion’s capacity to offer material prosperity. […]
Everyone who lives in America or has migrated to America has some sort of dream. There are those that dream of becoming rich and famous, those that dream of success and wealth, and those that dream of that perfect house out in the suburbs with a couple of kids and a dog. No matter what […]
INTRODUCTION The “United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Familiesâ defines migrant worker as follows: âThe term “migrant worker” refers to a person who is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a […]
