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EPIPHANY: The poor don't have enough to reach "critical mass"

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6042 **9/16/15 9:56 am**

Last night, in the morning hours, it hit me that the poor often remain poor because they do not have "enough" (of certain things) to reach "critical mass."

It might be a lack of (or substandard) education, connections, abilities, money, training, etc., but the lack of these conspires to ensure that the poor do not have what it takes, in most cases, to truly advance themselves.

When you don't have an inside edge to work for a major company...

When you don't have connections that can create a network of powerful friends...

When you did not receive a quality education (sometimes because of your own upbringing of not giving it the weight it should have received)...

When you don't get exposed to high-functioning role models and a strong work ethic...

Well, that is going to have an effect.

We tend to think that everyone is endowed with similar abilities and background. They are not. Some children never had much of a positive role model or were not exposed to a strong work ethic.

They might have come from families with very limited vision of what they could accomplish through education. Or from families that needed money so badly that they preferred a child to go to work than to take years in college (I've met such families).

Some families think that a diploma is the be all, end all of everything, no fully realizing that a diploma is virtually worthless if their child cannot read...or if they are in a community that simply does not have jobs available to them.

It seems to follow that UNLESS you can give them what they need--and that might be different things for different people--you will have limited success. Indeed, if you give money to a family that has no advanced concept of finance, they will soon be poor again.

I would IMAGINE that money might be the best band-aid we can give, since everything else could take years or generations to instill.

So, assuming I have a point with all of this, HOW do we proceed? It's easy to say, "Well, just go to school" or "Work real hard," etc., but this could mean that a family still cannot advance at all for YEARS. I'm afraid that few people have such far reaching visions in such cases.

Your thoughts?

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 16646 **9/16/15 10:15 am**

They can teach the next generation to be different than what they are.

Yes - a generation will be lost - but what other choice do we have. We can teach them to exist on handouts - and the next generation will expect the handouts - not a change in behavior (Re Johnsons Great Society failure)

If they don't teach their next generation - they won't learn it - and the cycle will continue.
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01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011 Posts: 24285 **9/16/15 11:12 am**

I have the problem of looking at lives. As a preacher's son in the 30-50's I knew boys (and girls) brothers and sisters that grew in the same enviornment, same benefits (not much) some became wealthy (successful) others on the dole.
Lacking a couple of your points could be corrected, as you said education cannot easily be done.

My own siblings, everyone had a share of success, one became very rich. The one thing my dad always regretted was not having an education, he tried to point out to us kids the importance of an education, but when you are a kid with a dad having a formal education of the 3rd grade and he is a successful minister and pastor when others with degrees donot reach his 'success' level (in my eyes), education doesn't rate high (as in my case until late).

I have a friend, a wonderful giving lady, She has buried three husbands, all losers. She swore never to make that mistake again. She is now married to another loser. Life proves just that, human nature is hard to retrain and sometimes it cannot, as with your example of money.

It seems a fact, the poor you have always.

We do have problems in the USA, but nothing like the refugees. Like the kids in tribes in Africa whose families are killed, etc.

Is there an answer? It isn't money or government, ask the Indians and follow Johnson's Great society as was pointed out.

I cannot see the silver bullet. I wish I did. Sad

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Golf Cart Mafia Consigliere Posts: 3382 **9/16/15 11:20 am**

The greatest thing the poor are missing in this country is a father who hangs around and takes cares for his family.

I did not have and don't have any of the "critical mass" things, but I did have a father who taught me by example how to take care of his family. I am not rich, but I am not poor either.

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 14803 **9/16/15 11:57 am**

Aaron, it seems for the ones you speak of, it would take a revelatory experience to break the cycle.

Bonnie...

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6042 **9/16/15 1:48 pm**

I think you are right. It's such a massive and complex problem that there doesn't hardly seem to be any way to tease out the key reasons. As Cojak pointed out, you can even have kids from the same general background turn out wildly different.

And as diakoneo points out, there is indeed a strong link between illegitimacy and poverty. It's almost like it is the preferred "way" for the poor. But one lady, writing about her own poverty, said something like "when you're poor, you just reach out for any bit of love and comfort you can find" (as a way of perhaps justifying her promiscuity--but which clearly leads to illegitimacy).

It will CLEARLY take God to fix it, for only He knows the precise buttons to push for each individual.

Poor folks stay poor because of their mindset.

Friendly Face Posts: 256 **9/20/15 3:46 pm**

Rich people are different. They view life differently. They make different choices. There are many great articles on the internet about this.

Good influences can make a big difference. However many poor people, choose to stay poor. The choices they make in life keep them poor.

Only living for today and not planning ahead is a big mistake. This is why someone ends up retiring with nothing or close to it. A few small changes made early on would have made a big difference. I am convinced that that 90% of the people prefer to live for today and not worry about the future.

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 13654 **9/20/15 4:42 pm**

"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as 'bad luck'."

- Robert Heinlein