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Major effects of poverty
Major effects of poverty
Major effects of poverty
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The Liz Murray’s lecture has far exceeds my expectation. She did a wonderful job with the book, but I think it was even more meaningful being able to listen to the author articulating her own story. Breaking Night and the lecture provide me with lots of valuable insights about life. I knew that poverty was a global epidemic, but I would have never thought that it would affect people in our country to that extent. Originally coming from a relatively undeveloped country myself, I am not too unfamiliar with the concept of poverty. I could not agree more when Liz Murray mentioned how poverty acts like a wall separating people in society. I think poverty in itself affects both the body and the mind. The body is deprived of its basic needs while the mind is …show more content…
constantly bombarded with depression and negativity. Liz Murray was able to rise above all of her adversities and renew her life with a purpose. Through her example, I begin to think that it is possible for humans to overcome almost anything once we put our minds to it. It is important to note that all of what she had achieved would not have been possible without the help of people around her. Poverty will not solve itself, but people can help through simple, small acts to contribute to the effort. I like the fact that she did not place a heavy emphasis on how difficult her journey was, but instead focused on the valuable lessons she derived from each experience. What also surprised me is that she never once resented her parents. Not a lot of people can do the same if they were put in her situation, including myself. Liz Murray radiates with positivity and faith for a person who have been through some of the most unspeakable experiences. Seeing that has motivated me to become a more positive and productive person as a whole.
Rather than focusing on what I don’t have and lack, I will try to appreciate what I do have. I will try to approach the life with an open mindset and not with a victimized mindset. I also want to be able to experience the peace that Liz Murray mentioned of not having to worry about always receiving more than giving. I do not want to surround myself with a restless mentality of counting things I could have and the things I do not have. Cynicism will definitely get the best of people and I do not want to live in a world where everybody scrambles around trying to chase down a materialistic lifestyle while having no concern about others. Liz Murray has taught me to embrace the notion of community in addition to improving oneself. English was a second language for me and without the help of the precious individuals who I have met along my journey I would not been able to write this essay today. A person simply does not live by himself, but also with other individuals within a community. If we feel the need to improve the quality of our lives, we also have the responsibility to look out for those who are not capable of doing it
alone.
Poverty is a difficult and horrible way to grow up in life. It causes people to become stressed, and terrified of the world. It also demonstrates the ugly side of the world. When you ae in poverty. It causes people to become desperate and do horrendous things like murder, rape, and prostitution. But poverty can also produce strong, determined, and hopeful humans. In Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus by Carolina Maria de Jesus, we see the ambitious mother of three living the daily struggle of living in the poor favelas in Brazil. She provides the best life she can to her kids, while also perusing her dream of becoming a writer. In Testimony: Death of a Guatemala City by Victor Montejo, the readers follow the inspirational
Most of the population today, mainly the younger generations, do not know exactly how good they have it or how much worse the quality of life can be. Personally, I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to not have experienced too many hardships. It was a real eye-opener for me after my interview with Mary Fowler, Great Depression survivor. She has been a close friend to my grandmother for as long as I can remember, but I have never heard her real story.
Everyone grows up with a dream, but everyone will not get the opportunity to do so, being born in the financial situation of their family. In third world countries people struggle to make money on a daily basis. These people want more than what they have, but to attain those extra luxuries, they have to sacrifice their current possessions.This is not possible in as sacrificing what they have can lead to starvation. They want a better future but they need to be able to live on a daily basis. It is called investment in the future vs temporary happiness. Attaining security requires risking one’s belongings to earn liberty and equality in the future. Although temporary contentment must be sacrificed to attain security in life, it must be one’s
When one thinks of poverty often the mental picture that comes to mind is of single parent welfare, dependent, women and unemployed, drug-addicted, alcoholic lackadaisical men. The children are often forgotten. The impact of poverty, the destruction of crime and stigmatization of the violence on the children is more devastating and irreversible than the miseducation and illiteracy that most often companies poverty. The implication is not the poverty can not be overcome but that the cycles of teenage pregnancy, welfare dependency, and dropping out of high school continues and are hard to break. The badges of poverty are just as addictive and capitiving as any disease such as alcohol or drugs.
People living in poverty can be thought of as a “them” who can be easily ignored and forgotten; when, in reality, poverty can affect anyone. When people are living in poverty, sometimes it is not their fault. Often, unfortunate events that are out of someone’s control can set them up for failure. For example, the poverty rate for disabled adults from the age of 18-64 is 28.5%, while disabled 18-64 year olds only make up 7.7% of America’s population (Proctor, Semega, and Kollar 16). Therefore, poverty disproportionately affects disabled adults. The stories of those living in poverty are incredibly diverse, as Sasha Abramsky points out in The American Way of Poverty:
Some forms of poverty are derivative of the difficult situations that a person may be placed in, such as divorce or the death of a family member. Some structural factors that may contribute to poverty can be seen through concepts such as housing affordability, employment insurance and whether it is considered to be fair or reasonable, access to education and health care services, as well as the depravity of living wages from employment agencies. “Despite the accumulating evidence that impoverishment is one of the greatest threats to human development, health, and quality of life, little progress has been made in addressing the incidence and effects of poverty” (Raphael, 2009). With the welcoming of the twenty-first century, rise was given to the concept of individualism and capitalism. “Since many multinational corporations are often perceived to be the primary drivers behind the world’s social and environmental problems, they have come under considerable scrutiny and pressure to pursue a more inclusive, conscientious, and responsible type of capitalism” (Ansari, Munir, & Gregg, 2012). That being said, capitalism is not really able to be fixed, the entire idea is completely corrupted in a way that benefits the wealthy and then forces the lower classes to suffer. Ignorance, disease, lack of empathy, and many other concepts have
Everyone knows what the word poverty means. It means poor, unable to buy the necessities to survive in today's world. We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it. There are so many children in poverty and a family's structure can effect the outcome. Most of the people who are at the poverty level need some type of help to overcome the obstacles. There are mane issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it.
Poverty as we know it is not a new issue at all, but none the less it’s a crucial problem that plagues much of the world. So much so, that it’s been stated that three billion people live off of less than $2.50 each day (dosomething). Poverty is a debilitating state to be stuck in, it takes so much more from people than just from a financial aspect. Someone who’s suffering from poverty have higher chances of experiencing a medical problem. People in this economic state also have much lower odds at succeeding in important areas such as school or finding a job. Poverty does not use a narrow view, instead it plays effects on people in much wider variety than just financially.
In the world there are at least one billion children that are living in poverty. There is at least three billion people in the world that live on less than $2.50. (Shah, 2013) Poverty can be seen everywhere around the world. Carl and Belanger (2012) states that poverty happens when the distribution of wealth is not equally divided between all groups of people. Poverty in Canada is defined as poor quality of food, sleeping in poor quality housing, parks, or city streets, and on a daily basis it is difficult to make decisions on what is best for you and your family. Living in poverty will decrease your life span and health, and could lead to criminal offenses just to stay alive. Aboriginal people, immigrants from other countries, people with disabilities, single parents especially women, and injured workers are more susceptible to living in poverty. (Canada without Poverty, 2014) Research has shown that living in poverty is not based on the failure of an individual, but the failure in the government and elite systems around them. When the political and economic systems do not provide employment wages or social assistance benefits, it makes it difficult for the individual to get out of poverty living. Also when the public policy does not provide affordable living, child care, or health and social services for the individuals, it can leave the individual still in poverty. Through conflict theory, sociologists can determine the causes and effects of poverty. (Carl/Belanger, 2012)
Thus, poverty has extreme detrimental effects and consequences for children and families suffering through it. It is still unclear whether poverty can ever be eradicated as there are millions still in poverty around the world. The effects of poverty on children have extreme consequences for the early stages of their development, and the consequences for a family relies on the income inadequacies that many in poverty face. These consequences are reinforced by Saunders (2005) as discussed throughout this essay. Therefore, poverty has some major damaging effects for all individuals involved.
We live in a materialistic culture that thrives on having "things." Yes, we must have things in order to live (shelter, food, water, etc.), but the word is misused. Our culture has become so materialistic that we forget what is really important. The "have" mode has almost become the norm, especially with our generation. Even though we subconsciously practice the mode of “being,” many people do not realize it which makes it difficult to appreciate life and all the aspects of “being.” “Because the society we live in is devoted to acquiring property and making a profit, we rarely see any evidence of the being mode of existence and most people see the having mode as the most natural mode of existence, even the only acceptable way of life” (Fromm 25). Majority of people want to be as successful and rich as possible that this idea takes over their mind and eventually lives. Every young person is obsessed with “fitting in” and having the latest and greatest items. This attitude causes adolescents to lose sight of what is important and lose touch with their emotions. Our culture needs to begin to think less about material items and being rich and more about his/her emotions and what it means to be truly happy. It is important to focus on the “bigger picture” and how one must become the best person he/she can be to benefit
Poverty: a never ending cycle of American disappointment. There are many reasons why poverty is so prominent: the corrupt government, education systems, the never-ending circle, the materialized world, and the morality of it all. Throughout time, people have stumbled among the dilemma of helping or ignoring. We often stumble on the questions, “How do we fix this issue? Can we? Would we?”. Everyone has his or her own opinion on the topic, but does that change the morality of it? Poverty is a very controversial issue in America, but when broken down into causes and solutions it is actually very simple.
Poverty is an important issue in the world that should be dealt with quickly. It should be handled seriously since it’s a deadly issue as it kills the population slowly. Poverty is harming many people around the world, especially the poor. We need to try and stop it with any means possible. Even though many people are trying to reduce it, others are not aware and do not care much about it since they do not realize how big of an issue it is. Poverty can be reduced if all people help and support each other. Everyone should try and stop it not because they are feeling pressured, but because it’s what their hearts are telling them to do.
In conclusion, sometimes actions take place that changes a person’s outlook on life and as you can see poverty is one that can have a huge effect on not only one person, but also the people around him/ her.
As one of the biggest problems facing the world today, poverty continues to have significant negative implications for the society. The effects of poverty are extremely severe and far-reaching, so much so that it was one of the top Millennium Development Goals agreed upon at the Millennium Summit of the UN back in 2000 (Hatcher, 2016). To understand the effects that poverty has on the society, one must critically analyze the societies in which poverty is rampant, as well as analyze poverty from the relative perspectives that it presents. The core aim of this paper is to develop a holistic understanding of poverty and elaborate on the diverse ways in which it continues to affect societies across the world.