When a mother makes her children drink a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner and then drinks the same poison herself afterwards, is it the mother’s fault, society, or government’s?
Is she to blame for not finding another way to put food on the table when her construction-worker husband cannot send home money, or is it the fault of society that is apathetic to the plight of people who are suffering? Or can this sin be placed solely on the shoulders of the government, for the failure of its cash subsidies and other fixits to bring hope to the poor?
I remember hurting this way when Mariannet, a young girl, hanged herself last November 2, 2007 because she was desperate about life itself.
I am not a stranger to poverty. I know how it feels to see a single parent worry about where to get money for the next day. There is no security; no hope. What if your toddler’s hunger brings you to the tipping point?
I don’t have the answers. I’m also not fond of pointing fingers. I just know that something has to be done. And just as I know that we can’t all save the world from cavities, maybe one good deed for others and one intelligent personal finance deed for one’s self tomorrow (we can’t help others if we are not standing on higher plane), could make a difference, if done by 1,000 people all at the same time.
26 Responses to “Tipping point of poverty”
Pages: « 6 5 4 [3] 2 1 » Show All
Pages: « 6 5 4 [3] 2 1 » Show All
September 11th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
let me play the other side for once……. if a person can barely feed oneself….. can you find time to create not just one kid but kids? is it the society that makes her conceive? i think she made a choice there….. who then, is to be blamed for the consequences of those acts? the person? the society? or the government?
government are made of people not unlike us….. society are us….. so am i/you to be blamed for the death of the mother and her childen?
September 11th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
sus reyna elena……. are you telling us that you are party to the subprime mess?
your company sell houses to the poor then packaged those mortgage as high return financial instrument, now that those people are not capable to pay……
that’s the whole gist of the subprime mess…. selling things to people not capable of paying, using other peoples’s money to leverage, then let government save their skin from the mess you guys started …. for profit
September 11th, 2008 at 11:53 am
i recently wrote a blot entitled ‘abusive poor’. don’t mind the title, it’s just there to catch my wife’s attention. but my point is sometimes, the society and the government have done their part to help the poor. it’s just that the poor sometimes choose to remain poor by not doing their part and by continuing to ask for dole outs. after all, charity has its limits.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Maybe the mother has low threshold to problems, pressures and depression. In such cases, she needs psychological treatment and counselling.
When one is in a dire financial situation like that, we do not know what is lurking in thier confused minds. When the world seem to be closing in on them, they think that the great escape is the ultimate solution to all their problems.
Indeed overpopulation is the root cause of all these problems and there is the lack of spine of this government to implement the right measures.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:56 am
my father was a product of extreme poverty. a child of a literally insane mother, he was able to send himself to school, finish it and get a stable job. he’s now retired but does full-time consultant jobs.
because of our good fortune, my parents helped a lot of my mother’s siblings, nephews and nieces. they gave them money for tuition, basic needs and others. but despite all the financial support, only one of my cousins was able to graduate from college.
my point is, poverty is not an excuse. it is never a deterrent to succeed. no matter how much or little help you get, if you don’t want to help yourself, then nothing will happen in your life.