The Earthquake in Haiti is an example of the need for us to end poverty...the deaths of 400,000 people due to poor housing and so on is unacceptable! Why are we so blind to poverty? Why do we not see the poverty in our own lives? All of my friends know that I have no money for food or gasoline right now...yet not one has thought about sending me a dime. Please, I only say this as an example...not as a plea for handouts...I know that God will help us somehow! Perhaps we think of this as not being in poverty, I do not know. But I tell you, my granddaughter is going to be out of milk tomorrow....So if we are blind to it this close to home, then that would explain to me why we do not see the poverty of another country. The earthquake has really awakened this in me.

I hope I can do something about poverty someday.

Soon. Like slipping my next ten bucks in an evelope and sending it to the Red Cross...

Truly, Blessings to the Givers,

Jai

asked 15 Jan '10, 11:07

Jaianniah's gravatar image

Jaianniah
37.8k13105607

edited 15 Jan '10, 11:14

We need to become stronger, and better in the work that we do, to help others.

(15 Jan '10, 19:25) Inactive User ♦♦
showing 0 of 1 show 1 more comments

All this woe seems to come from one thing.... it's a constant theme.....MONEY. Do we really have to restrict our compassion based on money?

Kudos to those who donate. Surely your intentions will help even if your money doesn't quite make it where you hoped it may go.

However, we, the people of this planet, have the resources available right NOW to end poverty.

We have the technology to rise above this antiquated monetary system that incites competition, scarcity, greed and inhumanity.

I encourage everyone to watch Zeitgeist:Addendum and consider the proposed alternative.

I agree with Rpuls - it's time we changed how we think and give less of our consciousness to poverty and start thinking of abundance.

One of my favourite quotes from Mohandas Ghandi:

"We must become the change we want to see in the world"

Peace

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answered 16 Jan '10, 00:55

Phil%201's gravatar image

Phil 1
1662

as long as we continue to have thoughts of poverty, we will continue to have poverty. Our duty is to set the example and live our lives in abundance and teach others to do the same. It's better to teach someone to fish and they can eat for a lifetime, than to give someone a fish and feed them for a day.

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answered 15 Jan '10, 15:04

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RPuls
5.2k21234

Well said - completely agree.

(15 Jan '10, 15:36) Stingray

Yes, give them the tools to enable themselves.

(15 Jan '10, 19:15) Inactive User ♦♦

Well, I think you need to give them a fish and teach them how to fish because if they are so hungry you can not learn as well as you should while they are so busy teaching you how to fish.

(17 Jan '10, 06:58) flowingwater

I understand that getting them immediate help is almost a necessity. However, Like learning to ride a bike, we have to let go and let them balance, peddle, crash, get up, try again.

(17 Jan '10, 21:13) RPuls
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I don't know if it's that we are too blind to poverty, but rather that often even the best of intentions aren't much help. I can think of a few examples:

You agree to paycheck withdrawal to go into a general fund that helps the community and the wider world. Later you find out that only 50-cents on the dollar helps anyone. The rest goes to administrative costs. Also, to compound the troubles, you find out that they have made the decision to give to some questionable causes. People at work stop giving or lessen their donation amounts drastically. Very few are helped.

A well-known company donates hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medical supplies and drugs to an African nation to help the large number of sick AIDS victims. The African nation's corrupt government steals most of the donations and sells them. Very few are helped.

There has been a tsunami, and millions are homeless in SE Asia. Most of the world sends food supplies and help. The military leadership of that country will not allow foreigners past the airport and most of the food spoils or is stolen. Very few are helped.

We pay taxes in part to help the poor. But you know of a welfare family not far from home, where the parents sell the food stamp money for drugs and the kids go hungry. Yet another program where many who need it most are not helped.

FEMA uses tax dollars to help the hurricane victims in New Orleans, but the trailers they purchase for temporary housing end up being loaded with toxic chemicals, giving people health problems.

These are just a few of the many examples I can think of, of why the poor aren't really helped, despite people's good intentioned help. Until the world solves some of the political and social problems that we have, the poor will go hungry. I feel this is a negative post, but seems to be true. I wish it weren't.

I hope the world will be a better place for all, soon. And of course, many donations do help. I just donated to the Red Cross for disaster relief in Haiti. We always have to hope for the best and do what we can.

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answered 15 Jan '10, 14:31

LeeAnn%201's gravatar image

LeeAnn 1
17.0k1519

edited 15 Jan '10, 17:19

It may be negative but you hit the nail on the head like I said in my answer Government and Politics are the problem.

(16 Jan '10, 21:25) Wade Casaldi

Neo-Tech says world poverty can end but there would be a lot that would disagree with the measures to do so. Much governmental control and regulations would have to be cut out completely, this would be a big boom in industry much like with computers having no regulation a new one comes out practically every week, newer fast more memory and cheaper. This same answer holds for health care too, but for now we are talking about world poverty.

The scare is with no regulations what is to stop people from making lousy products to sell, the very fact that people return lousy products and remember who made them stops that. That is not being very competitive selling inferior products.

With the regulations gone many more businesses would pop up boosting the job market and the economy to great heights. Plus the biggest benefit is technology would shoot through the roof in advancement, if Nicola Tesla had all the government regulations there is today to deal with we probably would not have AC current today.

As the country gets wealthier as whole, everyone has more money and money stops becoming a problem. So then with this surplus we find that we can help others achieve the same for their selves.

It is a very detailed plan and I am not doing it justice here, it is a plan to save the world. It is best understood in the story unfortunately it was deleted from Scribd.

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answered 16 Jan '10, 21:01

Wade%20Casaldi's gravatar image

Wade Casaldi
36.9k428102

Jesus said in John 14:1, 27: Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.

Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

Cast your care upon the Lord and he will sustain you. (Psalm 55: 22)

I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6: 35)

God said: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. (Hebrew 13: 5)

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. (Psalm 9:9)

The arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. (Isaiah 59:1) God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46: 1)

The reason we have poverty, is because the people at the top forget about the people at the bottom. Their cup is full, and running over, so they cannot feel your pain, and emotion. Of course they know about your situation, but they are not living what you going through. So, it is really hard for them to really understand that you do not know where your next meal is coming from. It is sad, but it is true, many people in America do not know where their next meal is coming from, and yet America, can find food for other countries and their people in disaster. Yes, we always have to give and to help the ones most in need, but we must not forget our own people that is also going hungry, and is in need of some of the same types of help.

Poverty would never end, because some of us do not want to take responsibility for our life, actions, or to do our part to have a more productive life. Some of us act, and behave like if society owes us something, when in fact we did not make our share of contribution. We cannot blame one single person for poverty; it is a collective act that is partly our fault, especially the ones’ of us who does not like to work for a living, even though we have health, and strength.

We are sometimes confused by our own self doubt, and irresponsible behavior. We are either, brain washed, controlled, uneducated, or ignorant of our rights, and place in society. It is not a good place for anyone to be, but many people have found a way to move out of their poverty, and off to a better life. The rich will get richer, and the poor, will get poorer. As it seems everything have to have a Top, a middle, and a bottom, so it is the same problem for people all over the Globe.

We cannot stop poverty, because of who we are as a people. It is a way of life for some people, and it is an accepted norm in our society. Even if everything were free to all people rich, and poor, some people would still would not know how to appreciate all that they have. Many would still find a way to shoot themselves in the foot, and blame it on someone else. We are not all the same, in terms of what we want for ourselves. So for poverty to end, we have to take an active role in our own life, in our community, and in our world at large. We each have to do our part to take the burden off of just one person. It has to be a collective agreement, and unity among all parties world wide.

So we will have to perhaps be our neighbor’s keeper to some degree, so that each person is doing their part in the collective agreement to uplift everyone. It is a big project, and it can be done for those who are faithful to the cause, and want to move out of poverty. But some people would still continue in their way of life, because they may not want to achieve a better way of life. Sometime we are where we are because of the choices we make for ourselves, and we have no one else to blame but ourselves.

The only possible way to stop poverty is to control mankind freedom, by holding everyone accountable, having everyone make their daily contribution to their community, with no exception, other than ill heath, or a disability. It should become mandatory that every able body pull their own weight, if not, there should be a penalty for loss of active participation.

Everyone should have the privilege to be open to a higher education, and learning to pursue the career of their interest, so that they can bring something worth while to our society; otherwise there would be no game change for the poor. And poverty would continue to be a way of life for some people, and we would continue to talk about it as if it were a new situation of our time, and we would get busy once more trying to stop something that is beyond our control, or expertise. Poverty would remain a game of the wise, and the foolish, and the rich, and the poor. I do not know if anyone could possible change the way our society works for good, and evil.

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answered 16 Jan '10, 06:45

Inactive%20User's gravatar image

Inactive User ♦♦
470124198

Jesus Christ said the poor will be with us always. There will always be when you donate to a worthy charity some one at the top will miss use it or get overly paid and the poor at the bottom will get very little.

There is always organizations that really help the poor and some poor miss use it. You will always from both sides of the spectrum misusing the funds but that is not to stop the programs or the people from trying to help because a few at the top who may have misused the funds or a few at the bottom who may have misused the funds for their are plenty who the funds do get too and really makes a difference and in most cases are a life saver.

Sometimes people don't simply truly understand unless they have or are walking in those or that person shoes than they fully have a 360 birds eye view and a too realisticly understanding of the whole poverty thing.

There will always be problems with money being given to any cause and someone trying to make away with it. That is through out all society.

I think prayer is a good start for the people in poverty, services, programs, teaching them how to fish, giving them some fishes, and hoping that when they get upon their feet the only thanks is like the little boy I saw on You Tube just pass it forward to 3 people that would be great just help 3 people that didn't help you who needs help in what or how ever way you can and it continues on until so many people are help through out the world and the world would be better for it.It doesn't hurt to say thank you and be thankful to God and Jesus where all of our help comes from.

People that don't work there are some services that they perform that others don't realize they do for the community. Just because someone is home and outside stops someone from robbing someone house because they will be see by that person. The children when they get off the bus aren't afraid as much because they know Mr. or Mrs. are at home and they could run over there for help if need be or if your house catch on fire they will call the fire department and it might not burn too the ground.

There are services or help that people who do not work for what ever reason contribute too society that goes untold or unrecognized. It is like a friend told me one time treat everyone you meet with kindness if you can because you don't know what is going to happen in your future and who will be the one to hand you a drink of water.

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answered 18 Jan '10, 01:14

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flowingwater
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The tech revolution is just getting started. Everyone will at least have a job. Abject poverty will be a thing of the past. Our problem is that we have to evolve with the coming changes.

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answered 14 Nov '10, 04:27

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Tom
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