Do Everything Right and Be Rich Like Me.

This article nearly moved me to tears (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-irwin/20-things-poor-people-really-do_b_4533691.html). ATD France published a document refuting commonly held stereotypes about people living in poverty and it is nice to see someone did an English version. There is no other group that has been so maligned regardless of location or era. This demonization of people with less is as old as time. It was no small thing that the Bible continually mentions the poor and what they can expect and what the rich can expect. But I have never witnessed so much ignorance concerning those in poverty; a total lack of credible information from the source. A rich person opines on the habits of the poor as an Englishman opines on the habits of the Frenchman. And shocker, neither likes what they see, they can only see how their side is abstractly better, more moral, more hardworking, and the other is irredeemably lost, and what is worst... happy being French. Of course I jest, because this analogy is imperfect as the Frenchman likely has similarly strongly held views about the Englishman and in the end both are biased but neither is truly harmed, and can meet as equals. But people in poverty do not have their own books, and TV shows, and blogs that can counter the daily defamation heaped upon them by the rich, and they may even believe the things that are being said about them. Disfavored groups often believe the caricatures that outsiders paint of them. But there are consequences to these harmful and dehumanizing views, and it is particularly heinous when they are lies. "Our" representatives can say boldly that if you do not work you should not eat in a debate on SNAP, at once, overestimating the benefits received and assuming that if you receive them you necessarily do not work.

I once spoke to a man who claimed that it was too easy to be poor in France, that they have it so easy, and I asked him, if it is so easy, then why isn't everyone doing it. He replied, some people have values and morals and some people do not. I did not really know to make of that at the time, but now it makes sense. How do you justify extreme wealth and privilege? If it is a societal issue, than those with the most power in society are to blame and will be responsible for solving the problem. But your other option is to blame the poor and their morals, values and choices. In this scenario even providing assistance can be considered immoral, if you have listened to any conservative politician, you are actually making people living in poverty lazier and more immoral by trying to give them a leg up. So cut the benefits and do drug testing. I tried to find a list of the 20 worst habits of the rich on Google. Needless to say, I did not find one, but that would certainly make an interesting read or better yet, the 20 worst habits of the rich towards the poor. When all your assumptions about a group are negative that should be a red flag that it is a crude representation of that group, and most likely way off the mark and completely missing what is really behind a particular action. If a business leader can sit in a class to learn how to do business with the Chinese, would it hurt to do the same with people living in poverty. The first thing you learn with dealing with foreign cultures is that you do yourself no favors by judging another culture by grafting your values and habits onto it. What constitutes a good decision is as culturally rooted as it is personal. An American decides whether or not to take a vacation, a Frenchman decides when. A more privileged individual can decide to take more risks in the comfort that if it goes wrong they will not lose any of their privilege, or can decide to just sit comfortably on their wealth and privilege with little fear of losing it. Our realities determine what choices are even possible for us, and what may be a good choice to take is out of the realm of possibility for some.

I will leave you with a story that stuck with me from my time at ATD. A woman in Guatamala who lived in a slum was asked why she had bought a big TV and should she not have used that money in a "better" way. And she explained how she lived in a violent slum, with rampant gang activity and bad schools. She believed that the TV would not only occupy her children so that they would not fall victim to gangs but it would stimulate their minds and give them a leg up. She made the best possible decision in her circumstance based on her means. That is what we all do, and sometimes the gamble works out.  Just my two-cents, but I think that more work to needs to be done to demystify poverty. That said, I will leave you with this quote.

“Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.” Herman Melville