Is Being Poor a Choice?

This is a hard question to tackle and a hard question to take a stand. Defining what poor is much harder than answering the question. Each person who is asked what their definition of poor is will have different answers. There is the blue-collared worker who only saves a few dollars from their pay check, or the single-parent working day and night, sick or not to keep their kids fed. Over all poor goes a long ways in what it is and in the end it all comes to the question- is it a choice?

I believe being poor is a conscious decision, sometimes it does not have to be blatantly obvious; sometimes to be poor you don't have to be living in a shack. Sometimes you can be living in deplorable conditions but you make the effort to make the best of your situation. You don't blame the government or other people for your troubles, you accept the responsibility that has fallen on you. You decide to get up each morning and work your hardest to provide for yourself and for your family, so they can be proud of what they have. Being poor is a choice, you can choose to blame everyone else but yourself for your problems. By blaming others you end up blinding yourself, refusing to seek help because you don't believe others care. If you don't care for yourself what will make others care for you?

This country does a good job in providing for the homeless and the needy. Although it might not be the best model of social welfare available, at least there is concern for the people who need it. We live in a country were the hardships and challenges between people are inevitable, and instead of turning an eye to this blatant inequality there are others trying to help those people who end up in the 'losing' end of the scale. The point being stressed here is that there are choices people can take. There is help that the people who end up being poor can take. Life is full of making decisions and choices and the moment when a person decides to give up and refuse to actively go seek help to better their living conditions, then that is when I say you are poor.

Living does not mean having all of the luxuries in life. Being poor does not mean not being able to afford. Being poor means not taking responsibility for your life and your family. For hoping others will pity you and drag you along. Being poor means being a burden to yourself.  There is a huge amount of respect for single-working parents who break their backs working for their children, those people are not poor. Those people try their hardest to give something better for their kids. There is an enormous amount of respect to people who don't give up when things get rough. I agree, sometimes things are hard and there seems to be no hope but you won't be seen as poor until the day you decide to give up with your life and not only harm your own being but you begin to harm and drag down others with you.

Being poor is hard, to be seen as poor is hard but there are always ways to improve their situations.