What Is Poverty?

PIXIEBUM

this is kinda a rant but i recently became involved in a romania orphange just before christmas and i have no idea what life for them is like.

the other day i was at church and this little boy came running past going i hate you i hate being poor!

i was nattering to his mum later on and she started moaning how she lived in poverty and how they had no money (yet she can buy a ps3 and wii for xmas?!)

i received a link today that kinda in my eyes sumed up poverty

http://www.rjamesfeaver.co.uk/erica-part2/

feel free to look at the link but my question to you all is what do YOU think poverty is?!

LeLLe

My veiw of poverty is when you have NOTHING. No food, no home, no medical supplies.
I dont think anyone in the UK will ever suffer from poverty because there is always a safety net (even if its not what you would like, it's there!)

dmg24

PIXIEBUM wrote: »

(yet she can buy a ps3 and wee for xmas?!)

She bought a wee for Christmas? :eek: :rotfl: :eek:

PIXIEBUM

i am always doing that and everyone is always laughing at that lol

alwaysonthego_2

dmg24 wrote: »

She bought a wee for Christmas? :eek: :rotfl: :eek:

golden showers :rotfl:

peachyprice

alwaysonthego wrote: »

golden showers :rotfl:

Ooh err!!!!



To me poverty is not knowing where the next meal is coming from, no money to pay for heating, no money to clothe or shoe your child, no permanent roof over your head.

Buying a Wii and PS3, but not being able to buy a dozen different games for them doesn't count, that mother and her child at your church need a reality check.

margaretclare

People have forgotten what the priorities of life really are.

My grandparents knew. They knew that the priorities are a roof over your head, food on the table, warmth, cleanliness and paying your way. They worked darned hard to ensure that the absolute basics were there, but they were poor, because they had nothing to spare beyond those absolute basics. My mother was poor because she had no choice but to go out scrubbing floors in other women's houses and what she earned went on those basic necessities. Christmas presents when I was a child were always either second-hand or home-made, hand-knitted or sewed. Everything I wore was home-made except for shoes, and often my mum would be given cast-off women's clothes of which the material was good quality, from which my aunt would make a pinafore dress or a skirt for me. My aunt was a polio survivor who sat on the floor for most of her life, but from there she cooked, baked, sewed, knitted, made gloves and did alterations to earn a little extra. However, it was many years before I actually realised that I'd grown up in poverty!

Poverty to me is having to work for what you get, and having no benefits of any kind whatever. It follows therefore that no one at all in this country today is poor, because everyone has an entitlement of some kind. 'What can I claim, what am I entitled to?' you see it on Martin's site and in other places, all of the time.

And please explain - what is a 'wee' that the woman couldn't afford?

alwaysonthego_2

Margaret, a wee should be a WII which is a games console.

lilac_lady

Not many people in Britain live in true poverty. Wants not needs have taken precedence in people's priorities.

spendingmad

"And please explain - what is a 'wee' that the woman couldn't afford?"

A Wii and a PS3 are both game consoles that cost around £200 each!!!! If someone can afford to buy these they are not in poverty!

People in this country have got their prioritises wrong, I remember watching a programme in TV about some teenage mums in 'poverty' their children were not dressed, their flat had no flooring/was not decorated, they ate c**p food but every time she was on screen she had a fag in her mouth. If she can afford cigerettes she is not in poverty, if she chooses in to dress her kids because she would rather buy fags then that her choice, The government should not be handing out more money.

Rant Over!

Steel_2

Poverty for me is having to decide between paying for the roof over your head or buying food.

Been there once and never going there again.