Poverty

This week we looked at poverty in D.C. and the world. We visited bread for life and i thought that it was very interesting that they had a free medical service and basically a life improvement service on top of food and clothes. This makes perfect sense to me as if you give someone food they will come back for it and not know how to improve their life. This shows that this company has realized that giving away things is not good enough. The old cliche give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach a man how to fish and he can eat for a lifetime rings true. That is exactly what bread for life is doing, "teaching men to fish." They are also giving away "fish", but those people will come back and then ask for the other services.
This then made an interesting turn around in the class on Friday. There was means to give people knowledge to get them out of poverty, global education, but no group chose this means. They chose something similar, literacy, but just because you are literate does not mean you know what to do with what you have. Just because you can read does not mean you suddenly have the means to get books and therefore the literacy is then pointless to have. Having an education will allow someone to be able to do something with that literacy they would gain from their education. They would also be able to do countless other things and get themselves out of poverty and not have to rely on anyone else. Dignity is an important part of self-esteem and if you have no dignity then you have little self esteem. You will have little to no dignity if you know you cannot provide for your self or for your family, if you have one. If only one point is taken from reading this blog it should be that education is vital to eliminate poverty, as well as other things. Teach a man how to fish, he can eat. Teach a man knowledge, he will be able to survive and thrive in a harsh world. Knowledge, global education, is a weapon that will allow someone to live above the poverty line and be able to thrive. Strive for an education and a means for allowing yourself to live. Don't throw away dollars or cents to those who do not know how to use them. Give your money to the organizations that knows what to do with the money to help eliminate poverty and help the poor overcome their status.