A Quick Note on Poverty Shaming

There was a time where, as a child, it was possible to be blissfully unaware that you were poor. The world you lived in was all you knew and you didn’t miss what you never had.

Today, it seems that the world is determined to inform and remind everyone, including children, that they are lesser for having less and that they and their ilk are solely to blame.

Democracy and capitalism have become a caste system that allows for just enough success stories to reinforce the idea that your position is purely a product of your laziness and your ignorance. Meanwhile the wealthy and powerful pick you clean of everything that matters. Your self-esteem, your agency, and yes, your money.

The irony is that the ingenuity and genius required to survive poverty is wasted on surviving poverty. The poor are economists and engineers. They are pastors, prophets, and counselors. They are lawyers, judges, and mayors. But the myth of the shiftless poor denies all of us the opportunity to tap this remarkable human resource.

It’s a damned shame.