An Essay On Poverty In The United States

Essay on Poverty Poverty does not exist due to a lack of charity; poverty exists because people of wealth do not view poor people as equally deserving of money. The American founding fathers penned the words, “All men are created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” But did they truly believe what they wrote? Are all men created equally, and do all men deserve equal access to rights deemed unalienable? In ideology people believe that all men are created equal, but in application they deny it. It is easy for me to say that I believe all people are equally valuable, and in many contexts I live that out; however, poverty is an issue where I question what I believe and what I am doing about my beliefs. I do not view poor people as my equal. I would love to think that I do, but in reality I consider myself more deserving of what I have than the poor. I think that I am more deserving of a college education. I am more deserving of a big house, new car, well-paying job,

I serve at the local homeless shelter a few of times each year. I make packages full of Christmas presents for children in Africa. I pay for water wells and mosquito nets for the people of Malawi. I am quite adept at charity, but that isn’t fixing the problem. Bono stated that, “Poverty isn’t a charity issue; it is a justice issue.” Poverty exists not because we are bad at charity, but because we don’t view the poor as equally deserving of quality life as us. Wealthy people give abundantly to the poor, but rarely do we view them as our equal. This is the root problem of the war on poverty. Rather than just combatting poverty, we are attempting to tear down poverty while building up our image. Our charity is more focused on ourselves than the people we are helping. Why? Because we view ourselves as more important than