Thursday, April 3, 2014

Poverty and Wealth

Thursday, April 3, 2014


What exactly is poverty?  It's not a small question.  I like to pose big questions.

Poverty, wealth and how we conceive them has been on my mind lately.  Recently the Supreme Court effectively loosened the regulations related to campaign financing.  Wealthy donors may now be able to distort the political process even more in their favor than they already are able to do.  Much has been written lately about the growing polarization between the haves and the have-nots in this nation.  Did you know that a mere sixty-seven people now supposedly have as much wealth as the world's poorest 3.5 billion people?  Does that strike you as a bit absurd?  I certainly think that it is.  For more details on the recent Supreme Court ruling you can find a good article here.

Another story I recently read focuses on the challenge of moving the world off our destructive addiction (my term...which is also used by others) to fossil fuels.  The article in question basically asserts it is highly unlikely the developing world will take a substantially less carbon-intensive route to development than the 'First World' as the nations which constitute the developing world attempt to raise their resident populations out of poverty.  In short, it seems we are supposedly essentially doomed to overburden the atmosphere with carbon and seriously threaten the inhabitability and sustainability of the one and only planet we have easy access to use.  Spelled out even shorter: We are collectively going to foul our nest and die as a result.  I would prefer to believe we will take a more enlightened route and avoid a catastrophic collapse of our global society.  Some might think I am a denial queen.  Others might think I am overly optimistic.  What does it necessarily matter what others may think?

Stories such as these give me pause to ponder what exactly wealth and poverty are.  I have also been reflecting on these issues recently as I have reassessed my own life in the last nine months.  Is wealth merely a matter of having the power to buy an extensive range of goods and services with what we call money?  Is wealth more connected to political power?  Should we consider influential people wealthy and poor or disempowered people, well, poor?  More broadly posed I would ask this: what makes for a fulfilling life?  What do you consider wealthy?  What do you want to 'have a lot of'?  When you think of the word poverty what comes to mind?

What concerns me almost as much as monetary poverty is poverty of opportunity.  Poverty of opportunity is what happens when there are five hundred applicants for one job.  Poverty of opportunity looks like small communities all over the United States which are losing population as people leave to seek work elsewhere...in part because there is minimal opportunity where they have been living.  Poverty of opportunity is what happens when discrimination, lack of education, illness or other factors block you from being able to be selected for an opportunity that appears within your reach...if only you had more help.  I see a lot of poverty of opportunity in America these days.  The economic collapse of 2008 created a lot of suffering.  And some of that manifests as lack of opportunity.  It is very sad.  And I have been personally affected by it.  I have not held a job that truly uses my diverse skill set in many years.  How sobering!  How disheartening!

I think the foundation for any true sustained happiness in life is your own health.  If you have good health most anything can be within your reach.  If you are sick you may be out of luck.  Billionaires die just as surely as paupers.  Billionaires may be able to insulate themselves from suffering by virtue of their wealth but being human means they will ultimately meet death as inevitably as anyone else.  Death is the great equalizer.

Even now, nine months after I began writing this blog, it still feels a bit strange to be me.  I'm about to wade into the deepest of my grief.  And I keep yearning for lasting spring weather.  I am now enjoying the opportunity to create a new life for myself free from the pain of the past.  I am not done with my therapeutic journey but I believe one day I will be done.  I am excited to see what will unfold.


Five Things I Am Grateful For

1) All the past educational opportunities I have enjoyed
2) My mentor, Dr. Pamela Colorado
3) The beauty of Hawaii
4) The color green
5) The field of medicine








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I invite you to accompany me as I document my own journey of healing. My blog is designed to offer inspiration and solace to others. If you find it of value I welcome you to share it with others. Aloha!