|
a |
|
Preeti on the Web |
|
Providing Food for Thought |
|
Poverty Is Relative |
|
Clearly, the poor in American are not poor when looked at from a global or historical perspective. What a paradoxical country we are; only here will you find hungry people who are overweight and throw food in the trash. |
|
Are the poor in America really that poor? |
|
December 1, 2004 |
|
To Contact Preeti: preetiontheweb at yahoo dot com |
|
Please note that all text on this webpage is copyrighted ©. Please do not quote or paraphrase without using proper citations. |
|
Recently, my mother said something that I cant get out of my head. For 15 years, my mother has recruited volunteers to buy, cook and serve food at the Salvation Army in my hometown. She now, however, is looking for a different organization to which to volunteer her time. She doesnt feel that the indigent people at the Salvation Army are those in greatest need of help. My mother explained, Compared to the poverty Ive seen, these people arent that poor; they throw half their food in the trash. I want to help some people who really need help. If my mothers remark doesnt quite make sense to you, let me explain. My parents are immigrants. They grew up in India the India that a mother mentions when she admonishes her child, Finish your food! Dont you know that there are millions of starving children in India! People like my parents have witnessed real poverty. They grew up in a world where more people were poor than not. They come from a place where food stamps, welfare and Medicaid are non-existent. My father did not own a pair of shoes until he went to college; my mother had never seen a television until 1974. Imagine coming from such a background and then moving to the United States, where poor people are overweight and dont finish their food when eating at the Salvation Army! Now, Im not trying to say that we shouldnt care about poor people here in the United States. We have a moral obligation to feed Americans who cant afford food. Im simply making the point that notions of what constitutes poverty vary from society to society. As an American, Ive had my definition of poverty challenged when visiting India. The last time I was there, I was riding through a remote village. The children standing by the roadside were barefoot and unkempt. They lived in thatched huts with no electricity or running water. Their parents were probably illiterate. By American standards, they were hopelessly poor. Nevertheless, these adequately nourished children of peasant farmers were happy and playful; they cheerfully waved to my family and me as we passed through their village. They had food, housing that was satisfactory by the communitys standards and families that loved them. Are they truly poor? I asked myself. So just what constitutes poverty? Here in the United States, the people we consider poor have far more materially than most who are considered middle class in developing countries and those who were middle class in this country 100 years ago. For example, public housing projects here have a constant 24-hour supply of electricity and running water (including hot water). I cant say the same for middle -class homes in India or homes a century ago in the United States. Clearly, the poor in America are not poor when looked at from a global or historical perspective. In trying to determine just what constitutes poverty, I find myself trying to avoid two dangerous outcomes. First, I dont want to become indifferent to the suffering of poor people in the United States, though their plight is less extreme than what Ive witnessed in India. Secondly, I dont want to overly romanticize bucolic village life in India. Peasants may be happy in their day-to-day lives, but that doesnt mean that we should ignore high infant mortality rates and fatal infectious diseases. Ultimately, I suppose, we should let each society define poverty on its own terms. Naturally then, the threshold between being poor and not being poor will vary from society to society. Coming back to my mother, shes still trying to reconcile two competing definitions of poverty: the American one and the Indian one. Here, most poor people can get food, housing, medical care, education and job training, whether through government programs or private charities. Here, poverty doesnt mean being emaciated and eager to eat whatever food you can get. In India, it does. What a paradoxical country we are; only here will you find hungry people who are overweight and throw food in the trash. So, I dont blame my mother for being confused about where her help is most needed. |