Alghannam, Tariq 5/11/2013 Reflection on Poverty Does it select where to strike or who to attack?

You see the unborn babies dont have the power to be born with a silver spoon in their mouth or in a manger because hospitals are full. If divine justice was administered to every human life then no person would be said to be born in a poor family or not. The sanctity of every kids life is not built on the foundation of poverty power. For believers who profess God; , they would think least of God being unfair to create poverty so as to have the rich and the poor. This renders a philosophical mentality, where did poverty come from because in actuality God did not create it. How did it become to be part of our lives? Every person born into this world has one thing in common. They possess nothing during birth other than life; a one one-day old kid cannot boast of wealth, titles, giftedgifts, prowess or prosperity whatsoever. This implies that our life is not meted by standards that determine poverty or wealth in our lives. This points me to the direction of asking ourselves; , is poverty a perception of our mind? There are instances of great minds being born in barns and mangers. Wealthy minds have sometimes been developed by the reality of discovering an idea to save lives at one point in life when they were in an urgent solution. This brings in a philosophical worldview of power of mind. Sometime the deprivation of what people perceive as wealth on outside incubates great ideas in us. Therefore, I would adopt this notion that poverty starts with the mind. The power of mind is comparable to an adrenalin action that comes into reality when life is threatened. It is easy to ask yourself in unbelief; how did I do that because of an amazing body response. This shows the potential hidden in us and one of the places to have such a wonderful source is the mind. If we have a wealthy mind, then the concerns of poverty are dealt with accordingly. A child born with the perception and view in life that every human being is given supernatural opportunity to live for a certain purpose in life behaves totally different from another one who is guided by how much many tangible resources surround him/her. If two children or people
Comment [D3]: An interesting thesis. Comment [D2]: syntax Comment [D1]: What does this mean?

in for that matter were subjected to similars ways of life with other factors kept constant but with dissimilar mindsets and an observation made after a certain period of time; how would the two compare? This can be viewed as a strategy to comprehend the element of poverty because a generation of thoughts in one of the two people towards achieving a particular goal brings a difference in his/her life compared to the other person.

The idea of defining poverty on a gauge of how much one has in material form would be unjustifiable. Some of the greatest sportsmen in the world have proved this and if you asked them what the secret behind their elevation to stardom was, they would probably point to one thing in common; I thought. The idea of I thought brings into picture again the aspect of wealth in the mind. Considerably, if these sportsmen did not have that input in their minds that they could do something, they could remain poor because of inaction towards that unimaginable force in our minds hence the definition of poverty can not necessarily be quantified in material terms. Every human being has a skill and opportunity bestowed on him/her to act towards a certain direction and achieve a particular result. It could be deduced then that a person without a certain purpose or idea in mind as to what he/she wants to do with life best describes the poorest person on earth.
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A notion that poverty is defined by lack of tangible material in life is misplaced because people who grow in poor suburbs in Africa, Asia or anywhere else in the world have proved that idea wrong. However, some variables in life may be influence the incubation and maturation of these ideas in our minds. Important factors like education, parental guidance, social interaction et cetera dont necessarily pull people out of poverty but act as avenues to guide these thoughts towards achieving a certain goal in life. The state of deprivation would seem to be more pronounced in an environment where the stated resources are inadequate. In fact, a lot of people believe that education is one of the essential inputs in life that can drive away poverty. Surprisingly, Bill Gates and others have proved this wrong in a way. Children

born into families with vast resources are thought to grow holistically in terms of ideas and personality and get to make great individuals, while the unfortunate tend to remain behind without means of making their way out of poverty. Surprisingly, the experience by the latter group of kids does not mean total denial and condemn them to a state of lack. It is important to note that it is a hidden force in their minds that will help them keep at par with their mates, disqualifying the belief that they are poor and cant be anything in life.

I believe it is good to use illustrative examples that apply directly to our social life. Dr. Benjamin Carson, a lead paediatric neurosurgeon at the John Hopkins University Hospital in the U.S., explains his transformation from being a D student to an A student in his book THINK BIG. The biggest proportion of his book describes the humble background from which he came and the lifestyle at home. Amazingly, he emphasises emphasizes on one thing in his entire book; : how his mother fed his mind with a powerful input that they can do anything in life and should not accept their current status quo. His mother told them that they are not poor in mind though their living standards were low. This is the idea that Dr. Ben Carson has been impacting on millions of people through his writing. According to him, poverty is closely associated with the status of the mind; i.e. whatever is in your mind in achieving a particular aim life determines your poverty level. Simply put, poor people tend to lack ideas and dont have a direction in life.
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Many inspirational authors focus their attention on one thing while addressing the subject of lacking in life. They concentrate on the supernatural composition of human beings. The inner personality attributes of every person should change the external characteristics of that person but most of beliefs we have harboured is the other way around. They believe that everybody is unique and has a unique opportunity in life into doing something to make a difference in his life and others too. They emphasize that poverty is entangled with the mindset of a human being.
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The chains of being poor starts with the moment the mind is shut off from possibilities that life can be directed towards a certain direction with an expectation of either positive or negative results. The fact that a person has been fortunate to be born in a well-off family does not mean that he is sufficient in ideologies as to what to make out of life. Some of them have been void of what they should be doing with life and are poor ideologically. Their minds are insulated from the power of conception that inventions can be made whether there are material assets available or not.

This is the philosophy of every persons social life, that poverty should not be pegged on what we have around us. A people who lack ideas and visions in life lack direction and they are bound to perish. Also, poverty is characterised by lack of working our inner conscience and sub-conscience mind to break away from certain patterns so as to make a change in our lives and the world at large.

Comment [D7]: As your title suggests, this isn much of a position paper. It seems to me more a set of philosophical musings than it does an argument about something in particular. So the whole thing, though reasonably well written, is a gauzy. Second, it does not engage much with secondary sources. Your bibliography lists three sources, but the body of the paper only cites one them. Some clearer documentation of where the ideas are coming from is called for.

Works Cited Dr. Gordon, G. (2005). Indicators of Poverty & Hunger. University of Bristol, Journal Article. 1-13. Dr. Carson, B. and Murphey, C. (1996). Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence. Barnes & Noble. N.p. Proudhon, P. (2011). Sytems of Economical Contradiction; or, The Philosophy of Poverty. McMaster Univeristy, Online Article. N.p.

Comment [D8]: The content of each entry is both incomplete and not in MLA format.