Reflections: Poverty

From the other day’s post, I was looking through past blog entries and thoughts I had written but had not formally published and this popped up:

June 11, 2006:

 
Suong in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia
March 2005

What is poverty really? Is it the lack of the basic necessities of life? Lack of money? Lack of medical care? What is it? Every day people speak of poverty in our streets, in our country and in our world. But who actually bothers to define it? Is not poverty in essence relative to where it is located? We're all familiar with people coming up to our cars with a squeegee, water and soap offering to wash our windows for a little bit of change while we wait for the light to change. Some people view these people as impoverished, but are they really when we compare that with the children who are dying everyday from malnutrition? But then again, the two are different are they not? It's like comparing apples and oranges. You just can not.

Is it possible to end global poverty? To level the difference between the most wealthy to those who have nothing. Is this reasonable to ask? Can we provide enough to each person so that everyone has something to eat, clean water to drink, a roof over their heads - the basic necessities of life?

I think we can. While I do not see poverty being completely eliminated, I definitely believe that the world can come together and ensure that its inhabitants all receive basic needs that all human beings are entitled. However, that being said, I do not see the social gap between the fortunate and the less fortunate getting that much smaller. There will always be a upper class and a lower class to society. But who knows? I may be wrong. The world has begun its battle with world poverty and with each passing day more and more people are aware of this effort and are contributing to the cause.

So what are you doing?

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4 years later, I still agree with everything I wrote. But then I also think to myself, what happened to me? I use to be so curious about everything and wanted to solve the world’s problems. Now, I feel like I’m stuck in a funnel, so focused on marketing and social media. Granted, this was written about a year after I had returned from Cambodia and was still coming to terms with everything that I had experienced. But still – I’ve definitely changed. A part of me wants to go back to that wide-eyed curiosity with which I viewed the world.

On a slightly related note, around the same time, I submitted a question to Dropping Knowledge, “an interactive platform for questions, concerns and initiatives from around the world, as well as a meeting place for concerned world citizens striving to turn apathy in to action (via Wikipedia).” My question was selected from those that were submitted to be answered by 112 international artists, philosophers, scientists and human rights activists. It was a pretty cool event and I loved hearing everyone’s response to the question I posed. You can check it out here.