The Death of Poverty Is Growth into Wealth

INTRODUCTION When people hear the word poverty, they believe it’s something that can only be found in Africa, Asia and some remote parts of the developed world. Perhaps, it is important to examine our collective blind-spots regarding the term ‘poverty’, and its more wide-ranging synonym, ‘lack’. Moreover, the most common forms of poverty such as financial, health and economic poverty are immensely important for their victims in the emerging countries. But poverty is present everywhere in the world. For many years, we have been misled with the notion that only a person who cannot afford her basic needs (food, clothing and shelter) on a daily basis is the one victimized by abject poverty. You might be familiar with the widely-researched assumption indicating that a nation where more than eighty percent of its population live below the poverty line of $1.5-$2 per day is in servile poverty. Unfortunately, we are not collectively alert to the fact that any person or nation living below its potential is, in fact, living in poverty. When seeking to define poverty, we must not become prey to our conceptual blind-spots. We are all a victim of poverty in one way or another; for example, if you are a student who is always failing mathematics, it is perfectly reasonable to say you are in mathematical poverty. What if your marriage is a total failure? You are probably in marital poverty. Imagine if your health is in critical condition- are you not in a sort of health poverty? If you are not able to make enough money to meet your basic necessities, we can assume you are financially impoverished i.e financial poverty. What if you cannot find a job or you are in a job you do not like (under-paid, or somehow dissatisfactory)? You must be experiencing employment poverty. Moreover, a person blindly in thrall to misleading religious beliefs might be said to be religiously impoverished. Despite our vigilance, poverty of one form or another is inevitable, except for those who have reached some abstract state of perfection. Meanwhile, we are all far away from being perfect. We can, however, minimize the impact of poverty on our lives by conscientiously managing our ‘poverty portfolio’. Seriously consider the following: if we die without sharing our gifts and insights, without helping and supporting mentees and the people around us with what wisdom we possess, we shall all have entered a state of poverty. Your personal solutions to unique problems will be lost to all. There have existed many numbers of individuals who proved their unique worth by virtue of their extraordinary deeds. If Jesus did not live up to his potential by crucifixion, where would the faith and forgiveness of sins of Christians be today? If the Prophet Muhammed did not live a legacy of exemplary leadership, where would the moral power of Muslims be today? If Abraham and Moses did not write the ten commandments and took their people from Egypt to Israel, where would the Jewish faith be today? If Buddha did not give up his luxurious palace life to seek wisdom through the power of enlightenment, how would the Nirvana of Buddhists have been established? If Krishna did not evoke the mythology in supernatural wisdom, how would the trinitarian doctrine of the Hindu faith come into existence? If Confucius did not devote high levels of meditation to envisage the ‘Golden Rule’, how would the Confucians seek to treat others the way they would like to be treated? What if Zoroaster had not gone on to foresee the power of dualism- how would his followers be able to make decisions that priotitises good over evil? If the great Albert Einstein had not been smart enough to attain the peak of his potential, where would scientific invention and creativity be today? Without Thomas Edison’s invention of the electric bulb, how would we light our homes today? If Adam Smith had not been brave enough to propound brilliant economic theories, such as the free market, and left his legacy in “The Wealth of Nations”, where would international trade be today? If John Maynard Keynes did not create social economic theories like “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money”, what would be the state of economics today? The list is endless. If Abraham Lincoln had allowed himself to live below his potential, nations would not be adopting the principle of ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people’(democracy) today. If Mahatma Gandhi did not sacrifice body and soul for freedom, where would India be today? If Nelson Mandela did not suffer imprisonment for 27 years, what would the story of South African Apartheid be today? What if Mao Zedong did not devote 25 years of his life to transforming the agrarian heritage of China into an advanced economy? What would be the state of China’s innovative ideology today? Without Tim Berners-Lee, and his invention of the internet, where would we be today? If Bill Gates had not given up many significant aspects of his time to invent Microsoft, what state would computing be in today? If Jeff Bezos had not lived up to his entrepreneurship potential, would we have Amazon today? If the young billionaire Mark Zuckerberg had not devoted his time to specialize in social media platform innovation, there would be no Facebook. If Warren Buffet had not lived up to his business investment potential, he would not be recognised as the most successful money maker and businessman of all time. Nevertheless, If Marie Curie did not sacrifice a tremendous amount in her ground-breaking work on understanding of Physics and Chemistry, especially radioactivity. She would not be the first female Nobel Laureate. Let me not flood this introduction with the names of people who lived, or are still living, at the peak of their potential. You probably know a lot more about these people than I do. Therefore, the question of the day; When you breathe your last, and are planted like a seed within those six feet of the earth upon your death, how many people will quote, or survive by your legacy? Leaving a legacy behind before you are gone is the best and only way to fight poverty and emptiness. This thought compels me to relate the story of a talented young man, the third of his parents’ four boys. Their father was a farmer living in a small countryside village. They had worked for their father on the farm since childhood. Whenever their father delegated portions of land to the brothers to clear in preparation for planting (by hand, because they could not afford agricultural machinery), the third brother always finished last on account of his health issues and muscular weakness. Even his younger brother was far stronger than he was; he was always mocked and deemed a ‘lazy boy’. Academically, he was performing below expectations. Fortunately, he was able to secure admission into the university and graduated with a degree in Business Administration, but never worked as a businessman or administrator. But he had one talent in which he was far superior to all his other siblings: his remarkable skill as an entertainer. His knack for learning lyrics was unbelievable- he didn’t have to listen to a song twice before he’d memorise them perfectly. His dancing and natural rhythm were a wonder to behold. His singing voice was utterly captivating. This young man was the consummate performer- virtually a human jukebox. He never abandoned his incredible musical talents- but he shared them only with his friends and family. He was unemployed for six years after graduation and often expressed longing for the life he wished to live (luxury travel, expensive houses, cars, watches and the like), while engaging himself in menial jobs like fixing televisions and satellite dishes. Sadly, he died aged thirty-one.