My Personal Opinion About Poverty

A friend once asked me to share my personal opinion about poverty during our friendly conversation months ago. The first words that came out from my mouth after hearing her request were "Oh no, not that topic, please!".

It's not that I have nothing to say about poverty. It is because I don't find this topic appealing or interesting at all... and I am as well aware that different people have different opinions about poverty. I remember, I once posted an article about "Poverty Is a Choice, not Fate" months ago here in Space of Reality blog, and there were some who commented back and disagreed ;(

Now, you may ask me "If you think poverty is not interesting, then why is your article today about poverty? " Thanks for asking. Actually, this topic is not in my list. There are a lot of topics in my notes... but because of too much local news about poverty and corruption in my country recently, I was inspired and challenged to share my opinion about poverty.

I often ask the questions like "Why are most people poor?", "Why are there some poor countries, like the third world countries (Sadly, this includes my country)?", "Who is accountable for the poverty?", "Is it the government?", "The society?", "Your family?", "Or your fate?"

In my opinion, poverty is caused by different factors - both personal and social. Okay, let's take the fact that your country is poor... but that doesn't mean, you will stay poor until the end of your life. You have your free-will. This means, you have the power to choose if you stay or move out of poverty. Okay, your parents are poor and they can't afford sending you to school... but that doesn't mean you will stay that way. Why not ask yourself "If other poor people can make it to the top, then why can't I?" Okay, you are still poor at your age because opportunity is rare. If that is the case, then why don't you find the opportunity instead?

Again, being poor is a decision. Now if you think you did your best to be out of poverty, yet you are still inside the border, then I guess you should "revisit" your government... and ask yourself "where does corruption leading us?" My answer - poverty ;(