March 15, 2007: Response to concepts of poverty and prosperity

Poverty:

What is poverty to me?

I think that poverty is the lack of access to sufficient resources. If you live in poverty you do not have access to one of more of the necessities for human life. Food, shelter, clean air, clean water, clothing, medical care. I think that in our nation the poverty line does not do a good job of correctly demonstrating who does and does not live in poverty. A family who is making well above the amount labeled as "poor" can still be unable to provide enough for themselves. Poverty is when you have to go without things that everyone should be able to expect to have. And by expect to have I don't mean the brand new iPod that came out last week. I mean enough food and things that taste good. Living on ramen noodles and coke is not having everything you need. That is one of the things that I really don't like about our nation and media environment. The media manages to make it so that all of the new video games are things that some children "have to" have in order to feel that they are living their lives fully. I hate that TV and radio and billboards and magazines make us feel like everyone has everything that we don't and we are missing out if we don't buy them. Not only does this make life harder for the middle class kids who feel like they're being cheated out of a good life when they can't have that damn brand name cereal but imagine how it must be to be a poor child who can't even have cereal at all.

Prosperity:

I'm not really sure how to define prosperity. I don't know if I think it's having enough or having excess. Certainly compared to a lot of people in this world just having basic needs covered is being prosperous. I guess I would define it as having everything you need and being comfortable. I think a person who is prosperous can cover basic things like food, shelter, clothing, medical care, clean water etc. as well as afford to have some basic wants as well for example TV or a car. This is a toughy though because I don't think really anyone can afford some kinds of medical care. Nobody except for the sinfully rich would be able to afford most expensive surgeries or things of the like. Being prosperous can mean a lot of different things but for now I guess I would have to say that my idea of prosperity is: not poor. If you have a roof over your head in this world you are extremely lucky.