Reality of poverty

In America, over 45.3 million people live in poverty, and an additional 97.3 million people have an income twice below the federal poverty line. Of the children in poverty, half will be on food stamps before they turn 20, including nine out of ten African-American children. The shocking reality lies in that 48 percent of individuals America are in poverty or have low income.

Think about that. That nice cashier at the grocery store? Your co-worker at your hospital internship? A friend at school? All of them could be suffering within a lifestyle you could not even imagine.

Yet, while America’s poverty rate has remained drastically alarming, the fact that the top 1 percent of the U.S. population holds 43 percent of wealth in America reflects an even more sinister state of our nation. Underneath the duplicitous words of “opportunity” and “free markets” lie the naked, grim reality of a capitalistic society. However, even as the margin of inequality widens to incomprehensible levels, many Americans still abide firm by the principle that we should not help the poor. A huge justification for this stance is the idea that the poor are “lazy,” refusing to take opportunities handed to them.

Working in a poverty-stricken neighborhood this summer, I have gained many insights and troubling discoveries about the nature of this belief. I found that opportunities do indeed exist for poorer people to become self-sufficient. There are Jobs Week boot camps, resume writing workshops, websites for job applications, adult education centers and myriads of chances for those in poverty to gradually rise up. Yet I also found that many of those living in poverty are unable or unwilling to catch these opportunities. While some might feel this illustrates their laziness, the reality is much more complicated—and unnervingly problematic.

Last week, when I went to a Jobs Orientation, the one thing I found noticeably discomforting was the contrast in dress between “us”—the educators, teachers and helpers—and “them”—the poor, currently-unemployed individuals seeking aid. The participants filled in, donning t-shirts with grease stains and ragged flip-flops, while we paraded around in business suits with sharp buns. It was uncomfortable for me already, but more so for them. It was our environment, our dress and our cool professionalism that heightened their sense of difference, inferiority and inadequacy. How could these people take the initiative to enter an environment in which they would at once feel undignified and vulnerable?

Poverty in many ways strips individuals of their dignity, their sense of autonomy and their sense of worthiness. How would you feel if you had to travel to a soup kitchen to get your lunch, depend on the government to issue your checks and buy second-hand clothing not because it “looks vintage,” but because that’s the only option?

With a sensitivity towards their own harmed dignity, some of those in poverty often either lash out in anger against those who have made them feel undignified, or succumb to depression or psychological distress. Others have a sensitive distrust toward those in authority, those in control and those on the higher rungs of society. Recently, a study found that poor Americans are less likely to vote and yet are more likely to distrust the government. Indeed, lacking control in life breeds an unhealthy distrust of both power and goodwill.

In this mindset, mental health issues arise. A study found how people with low socioeconomic status were at least twice as likely to have frequent mental distress as those with high socioeconomic status. In a lifestyle in which it is easy to often feel worthless and useless, uncertain about tomorrow and constantly feeling rejected from society, it is near impossible to fully develop healthy habits and inspiration to succeed.