Poverty

Poverty is commonly equated with stupidity because of the portrayals of the poor in the media. The educated and poor are not likely to throw themselves into a spotlight as poster-children of poverty. The gracious poor are those who are seen helping their neighbors after a disaster, as those with less to give emotionally and intellectually sit and stare. Poverty is not an homogeneous state. Elders become poor simply by the way the economies of capitalism work for those who get rich from them. In order for capitalists to get rich, there must be inflation as goods bought for so much are sold for twice that value to garner a profit. If goods do not accumulate inflated value, there is less imaginary worth to grease the wheels of the capitalist machine. This explains in part why capitalism does not really breed meritocracy, the illusive unicorn of corporate mythology. Pure capitalism is a system of greed for greed's sake. Therefore, many people of great moral and ethical merit become poor in the capitalist system. Those who experience true poverty live in a different universe from those who have never faced it. In my practice, I try to hold onto my own experiences of poverty. I find that the spirit developed in surviving poverty is a spirit freed from greed and also freed from judgment of the poor as less valuable human beings.