by Roger Grant

Created on: February 16, 2009

Abolishing poverty is not a question of economics but rather a moral challenge.

This dilemma is akin to what the world is currently going through which everyone describes as an economic crisis which is more accurately a moral crisis if you may.Banks failing and business going bankrupt has at it root causes moral failings of people: excessive greed and out of control materialism.Also governmental waste and corruption. Take for example the just concluded United States elections where the candidates collectively spent over a billion dollars in the process. Are we really serious about ridding our society of poverty?

Poverty exists in the world not because there is not ample resources to take care of the earths inhabitants but because the present world model is structured along lines of individualism and nationalism. Individuals seek out wealth as if they are an island and politicians swear an oath to their nations as if their nation is the world.

Wealthy nations became so through conquest and oppression of others. when individuals and entire nations are invaded,conquered and enslaved . While one plunders they gain material advantage and the losers become what? Impoverished of course.

The prevailing argument we have been fed by society about poor people is that they are poor because they are lazy. This is an aberration and is used to deny giving another human being a fair chance and to defraud the majority of wages that can adequately cover their basic needs. It takes much more than hard work to rise from poverty in this world. Many have found out that this is near impossible without bending the rules and have made their way out through so called unlawful means.

But the question is : HOW DO WE ABOLISH POVERTY? We do this by the simplest act which is by sharing. Instead of taking the whole pie why don't we divide it up. The worlds resources are being squandered in futile pursuits too much to be even mentioned in this article while members of the human family go hungry and homeless. We don't need more space shuttles, weapons of war and technological gadgets of all size and shapes. What most need is to be valued,appreciated and to be helped.

Now you see why I said this is a moral challenge. Are you still not convinced? Our culture is "winner takes all". The strong and powerful exerts control over the weak and powerless and justifies this trough stereotyping and stigmatising. Progress is measured in monetary terms and not through the universal well being of all the earths citizens. So the only way to abolish poverty in the physical sense is to firstly abolish the cancerous moral poverty eating away at the core of humanity.

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