Poverty Myths

[talon]

As we slide once more into the portion of year where charity pleas and charity efforts increase , let's take a moment to review a few of the poverty myths that also get dragged in this time of year

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/15/my-take-5-myths-about-poverty-that-christians-should-renounce/?hpt=Sbin

This link is to one Christian's point of view. I respect his view, and understand how he applies his faith and beliefs to his understanding of these myths. Our understanding of these myths are relatively close in most instances.

Myth 1: People are poor because they are lazy or stupid.
His view: "Poor people work incredibly hard, under harsh conditions, frequently seven days a week. With no welfare programs and no social networks, if they don't work, they don't eat. That's reality." Mine echoes it fairly strongly. Even with welfare programs and social networks, there are far too many people who fall between the cracks, lack food, health care, job opportunities. The poorest people in America are the hardest working people, holding down 2, 3, even 4 jobs in an effort to have a roof and food and to provide for their children, their elderly, and the rest of their family. Their employers treat them as disposable and infinitely replaceable machines, giving the employees less loyalty than they give a gallon of milk. People who earn less than $20,000 a year are always on the scramble for a second job and they work hard at their jobs because they hope maybe their employer will notice and promote them and grant them some sort of loyalty, some sort of job security for being a good worker.

Myth 2: Poor people want handouts.
His view: "We assume that a hungry person wants us to give them something to eat. Sure, if a mother's children are hungry she'll gladly accept a free meal. But what that person would much rather have is the opportunity to work and feed her family.' And I agree. Poor people will accept handouts because they desperately need them, but they'd rather earn them than be handed them. Give them jobs that pay living wages and they'll never need a handout, they'll work for what they get.

Myth 3: Our foremost responsibility is America's poor.
His view: "We live in a generous country where last year more than $300 billion was given to charity from voluntary donations. As grand as that is, less than five percent goes to international work, leaving 95 percent in our own country for our churches, university endowments and symphonies." I partially disagree here. He said this as if the donations that stayed in America exclusively went for churches, universities, and symphonies. That's as much a myth as the other poverty myths. I don't have the statistics for the percentage of our in-country donations going to poverty assistance, so I can't speak authoritatively on it. I do know that approximately 70% of my religion's charity donations go directly to feeding the poor, helping to rehome them, and to pay for urgent medical care (80% of that stays in the US, 20% is sent for relief in other countries), 20% goes to the environment and wildlife, 5% goes to domestic animal charities, and 5% pays our clergy. This does not include what individuals donate outside of the religion - many donate and volunteer in disaster relief and microfinances for foreign small businesses.

Myth 4: Jesus said we will always have extreme poverty.
He said: "Jesus recognized that some will always have less than others. But the kind of abject poverty that over one billion people endure-those living on $1 per day-wouldn't be tolerated by Jesus and should not exist today" I am not a Christian, but I have to agree with this. Some people will always have more than others, and others less, so by the definition of some having less = poor, we will always have the poor with us. Poverty is a totally different matter. Poverty is not being able to scrape up the bare minimum for a minimally healthy existence, and poverty should not exist in a world as rich as ours.

Myth 5: Jesus was concerned primarily about spiritual poverty.
He said: "Jesus had special solidarity with the poor and told us that if we love him, we will show it by caring for them." I say you don't have to love Jesus to care for the poor, the downtrodden, the hurt, the sick, the disabled, the disadvantaged. You just have to have a heart and a mind. It's hard to care for anything if you are so hungry, so tired, so uncomfortable all you can think of is your next bite, your next opportunity to rest, and have no hope of ever being comfortable.

I've heard our politicians say or strongly imply that only Christians are charitable.

They do a great disservice to themselves and to those of us who are not Christian.

It's true we don't have the massive numbers of adherents Christianity has, so our efforts are, by comparison, less, but they are still there and still meaningful. A penny in the right place at the right time is worth more than the dollar languishing in some collection box to be distributed later. For most of us in smaller religions, our charity efforts are often more personal - we work see the faces of the people we help, we lift and haul, scrub and feed directly. We may only help one person at a time, but we do help.

I don't think it's the degree of help we provide that matters so much as that we have it in our hearts and in our hands to reach out and give that help.

Think about the poverty myths you've heard, and then - consider the truth instead.