POVERTY: A BOON OR BANE

(This article is my entry to my Natasha Scholarship Apllication

“Many are poor for they believe they are poor. But many can be rich without believing they are.”

Poverty has become an interesting topic nowadays since it is very relevant to our modern society. Poverty tends to be the greatest dilemma that plagues the world as a society. The poor ranges from poor, very poor and to the very, very poor.

Many people use the word “poverty” and understand its different meanings. So, how can we define it accurately? Many people believe poverty may indicate an individual or group of individuals who does not have any fund or wealth to accomplish their daily activities to live. But poverty actually indicates the deprivation of necessities which determine the basic living standards and quality of life, encompassing both tangible and intangible aspects with food, water, housing and basic education.

Poverty continuously spreads in different countries. African countries, like Burundi and Ethiopia, are one of the poorest countries in the world. These places are known for being famine. They illustrate different images of poverty that can make everyone put their concerns to those people who live there. But before other countries, let’s take a quick look in our country, the Philippines.

Our country is considered as one of the poor countries worldwide. Aside from it, we’re also considered as one of the poorest countries in terms of everything. But our country is one of the richest countries in terms of natural resources. And, but why are we considered so? Others blame our government for this. But, the main reasons why our country is considered poor are the Filipinos that cannot able to handle their resources properly and wisely.

Our countries current situations are very obvious - financial crisis, government debt, political wars, side-to-side rallies, uncountable Filipino problems, prostitutions and many more. As some researches, said, even a baby in the womb or even a new born baby suffers the so-called poverty. They suffer malnutrition and even starvation at their early age. Their parents used to work and strive just to have food on their plate and for them to live.

Education is very important in our world today. But due to poverty, many failed to step in school. They have no choice but to work and earn money just to sustain their dearth of financial aspects and needs in everyday living. These children/youths turned to be not educated, can’t read and write. And sad to say, our country’s quality of education seems to be deserted by other countries. This is one of the main factors of the uncountable out-of-school youths that causes Philippines’ current situation.

Poverty also leads to many bad things. It forces several people engage in crazy things like prostitutions, crimes, gambling, carnapping, kidnapping and many more. They do it even it is hard for their conscience just to sustain their financial needs to survive. Poverty kills people’s dignity, destructs future generations and undeniably destroys life. It may not be unstoppable but poverty must serve as an inspiration that impulse us to do such things to obtain our goal. Poverty must not consider as an obstacle because poverty is only a creation of our minds which obstruct us to function.

Others usually ask “Why our country is so poor?” Their question should be “How long will we allow our country to remain poor?” Poverty is everybody’s concern. It will not be overhauled by our president alone, but by the whole countrymen as well. Every Filipino should do their own part in uplifting the current situation of our country. Even a single vendor can contribute a big difference in elevating the country’s economic situation. Poverty is a great challenge for us, Filipinos, to achieve our goals in life.