Poverty As a Fuel for Rage

Poverty is the absence of all human rights. The frustrations, hostility and anger generated by abject poverty cannot sustain peace in any society.

~Muhammad Yunis~

Recently a newspaper ad offered up to one percent interest on a one year bank certificate of deposit, described as a bargain. Of course it was taxable as well. On the next page I found an article describing banks as swimming in money. It is estimated that about sixty or so families control half the wealth of the world.

Various news stories in recent months saw many cities simmering in unrest and increasingly boiling over into downright violence. Sometimes the violence relates to concern about police brutality but other times no clear provocation is evident.

It seems to me that much more effort goes into controlling and reacting to violence than into understanding and preventing it. Communities often react with outrage and repressive attempts to contain the surge of violence.

In recent years, police departments have acquired a wide range of non-lethal weapons to stem the tide, but there are all too often incidents of over-reaction by police and a disturbing number of deaths among agitated but unarmed citizens.

Is this a problem among undisciplined police officers or something larger? In my view, we are asking the police to handle a problem often created and ignored by the larger society. We shake our heads over the violence but don't do a great deal on a personal or societal level to understand why people are restless and agitated.

Imagine being born into a family in which none of your relatives have completed high school. Your relatives try to help each other survive but no one has much to share with each other. You can't remember your parents living together. The best you see around you is quiet desperation. At worst you see neighbors engaged in outright battles. You can name three people from your block now rotting in jail.

How easy would it be for you to be the least bit optimistic about your future? Could you even dream of a college education or a good job when no one you can name has escaped the poverty which surrounds everyone you know?

We live in a society where the elite few grow richer by the day. Legislators constantly pass laws making it easier to become even richer while cutting programs to aid the less fortunate.

To be fair, the newspapers have also celebrated the few poor people who have been given the opportunity to change their lives and have gained a sense of pride. What about the rest of those mired in poverty?

Our world community contains the resources to eradicate poverty. The problem is that we do not think as a community responsible for each other. Even in our democratic society, freedom has come to mean everyone for themselves rather than collective responsibility to care for each other. Maybe it is time we rethink what it means to be a human being and how we can all have the chance for a satisfying life.



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