Problems of Poverty - Assignment Example

Problems of Poverty In the recent past, there has been an effort to create awareness against poverty across the world. In the community, poverty has been evidence in terms of hunger, lack of shelter, poor health care, and the failure of people to meet essential needs. The existence of poverty has continued to suppress the wellbeing of the people as more people suffer and even die out of the severe consequences of this scourge. Scholars have teamed up to establish the factors that lead to poverty and the best strategy that can be used to form a zero-poverty community in the world. This topic has generated a lot of heat in and research has yet to come up with an implementable plan to reduce poverty. Early scholars such as Jane Addams and Martin Luther King saw the severity of this problem and provided possible solutions to the problems evident in the society. While others feel that the poor are poor because they lack the incentive to work for better lives, it is clear that the poor people lack the opportunities to develop their lives. In essence, poverty is a result of the society shortage of opportunities to overcome the problems that are already suppressing them. Many scholars have come to associate the problem of poverty with the existence of social injustice in the community. Luther (25), in his work, Letter from Birmingham Jail, noted that the social has for long waited for justice to unleash their potential to fight against poverty that has for long become part of their life. Social justice refers to the provision of every citizen with an equal opportunity to grow and develop. In the society, as King notes, has been subject to an environment that suits others and oppresses others. While the well up in the society have suffered less severe consequences, the poor have been treated with bias and subjected to social injustice suppressing their chances to develop. In the society today, the rich are provided with the highest level of justice and hence are able to gather more wealth at the expense of the poor. For long, the government has promised to deliver a corrupt free society that embraces community developments in the effort to curb poverty among the community. However, corruption has escalated over the years and only those who can afford bribes have the potential to grow and expand their operation for economic advantage. The poor continue to be exploited and their chance of survival has been minimized. The King (26) points out that “justice too long delayed is justice denied” to express the failure of the government to deliver justice to the weak in the society. Denying justice to the poor is denying them the opportunity to emerge out of poverty. On the other hand, Addams (118-132) makes note of the various experiences of the poor people in the society. One factor that Addams points out is the shortage of educational knowledge in the society. Reformists have suggested that the only way to reduce the poverty level in the society is by educating the masses as education is an opener to societal development. Addams (131) with the current “efforts made by the modern society to nurture and educate the young” it is expected that the poor would have an improved life. One way to look at this statement is that Addams sees education as the opportunity that can help to pull the society out its misery. On the other hand, she feels that these efforts have not been adequate as poverty is a reality that is yet to be phased out. The argument of Addams points out that the poor face a lot of difficulty in acquiring an education, and this is the reason why they are yet far from arising from poverty. As a matter of fact, the poor lack the opportunity to send their children to school because they cannot shoulder the burden of school fees (Hills 122). Poor parents spend long days in the coarser work of the world and get little pay out of it. The issue of concern here is that education, the only opportunity for the poor to grow, is a something that the poor cannot afford. Addams (127) seems to support the idea of King that social injustice is one of the factors that underpin the poverty level in the community. Oppression of the poor is manifested in various ways in the life experience shared by the author. A major problem in the society is that the poor work in an oppressive environment that barely provides them with enough to support their humble lifestyle. A woman, the mother of “Goosie” has to attend her job and still nurture her baby because she does not have an alternative source of income. She cannot afford to lose any time holding her baby as whatever she earns from her job is not adequate to meet the needs of the next day. The author uses this example intentionally to point out the nature of the pay that the poor earn from their jobs. It is barely enough to meet their needs and the needs of their family. This can be interpreted as lack of social injustice in the society. The poor should be provided with enough wages to meet their needs adequately and have an opportunity to develop themselves. In this regard, it is true to say that the poor have been denied the opportunity to grow and develop due to the existence of social injustice. It is clear that the poor are more than willing to work hard and improve their conditions rather than depend on mere help from the community donors. Addams (123) shares his experiences with a man who was more than willing to exhaust all work opportunities before asking for any relief. When the author gave him the idea of working on drainage canal, the man was ready to endure a colder environment rather than queue for help from the community beneficiary programs. As a matter of fact, when he took up the job, he did not go for relief food that was being donated. Unfortunately he died from cold in the winter season and this was a promise for suffering on the part of his family that depended on him. This experience shows that the poor have done their part in fighting against poverty as much as their ability is limited. However, the society has failed to take its role in supporting the poor and guiding them on the way forward to come out of their state. In one way, it is clear that the poor have little control over their verdict, and the only way to assist them is by providing them with opportunities to develop. One way to support the society out of poverty is by developing effective programs to make them aware of the problems and the most viable ways to solve them. Most poor people are not even aware of the reason why they are in their state of poverty. Addams (127) states that the poor feel that the cause of their problems is poverty itself. While they may be right, it is clear that they lack the strategies to come out of their position. One opportunity that any country should consider in their society is the provision of decent employment. A decent employment will provide the people with enough income to support their basic needs such as housing, clothing and education. Also, it is crucial to provide opportunities for the financially disadvantaged students to achieve their academic goals (Meyer and Sullivan 23). Moulding a future of intellectuals is a superior way of paving way for the end of poverty in the society. It is these kinds of opportunities that the poor lack that hinders them from developing. In conclusion, the works of Addams and Luther King point out that in reality it is the society that has failed in providing the poor in the society with the opportunity to grow. While the poor are doing anything to come out of their situation, their chances are limited. The lack of social justice puts them in a compromising position and undermines their chances of development. Possible opportunities such as opportunities are only available for the rich as the poor can barely afford them. The meagre salaries that they get cannot cater for their daily needs or even pay for the education. The only way to help the community is provide them with the opportunity to grow and motivate them in this effort. Providing them with social justice and catering for their social needs is the only way to eradicate poverty. Works Cited Addams, Jane. Twenty Years at Hull-House: With Autobiographical Notes. Rockville: Wildside Press, LLC, 2010. Print. Hills, John. A More Equal Society?: New Labour, Poverty, Inequality and Exclusion. Bristol: Policy Press, 2005. Print. King, Martin L. Letter from the Birmingham Jail. San Francisco: Harper, 1994. Print. Meyer, Bruce and Sullivan, James. Winning the War from the Great Society to the great Recession. 2013. The National Bureau of Economic Research. Read More