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In a simple word poverty is deprivation. What constitutes the deprivation, who sets the standards of the deprivation is a matter of location and culture. The root of deprivation is loss. Whatever one sees or experiences as poverty, the root is the same. Until we get this concept, poverty will never be eradicated.
The paradox of poverty is that it can exist anywhere and on many different levels. I've worked with the homeless for many years and my description will be familiar to many of you: lack of basic necessities, no job, no skills, broken family relationships, single parent homes. Experiencing this level of poverty usually takes several generations of breakdown and disconnection. People this impoverished usually struggle with mental illness, impaired attachments, criminality,and addictions. These co-occurring conditions are the natural accompaniments of a life of poverty. This is what we "know" of poverty in the media or other sources of information.
There is another form of poverty, less visible,but certainly all around us. This is poverty of spirit and poverty of self. People can have every material comfort and necessity and still be impoverished. Strangely enough the co-occurring conditions can be the same. This poverty is about loss as well. The general scenario is the same; somewhere in one's life an important loss occurred which was not recognized, not grieved and not mourned. The feelings of grief had to be deterred and so another behavior was implemented. This behavior is almost always destructive. When one's emotions have to be pre-empted in order not to feel, relationships always suffer. One can easily become alienated from self and God. That is why even "rich" people are sad and lonely.
Whatever the poverty, the source and the solution are the same. Its time we took a look.

Learn more about this author, Candis Smith.
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