Is it always going to be "someone else's" fault?

I agree with to a certain extent. Yes, nobody can be held responsible for poverty except the poor themself. And the action to get out of poverty should also come from those suffering it. Though individuals of a society can exonorated of the exixtence of poverty the society itself cannot be. Poverty, more often than not ,has systemic causes, apart from the incompetence of the poor. Consider for example a family living in a slum with no education and no means of earning except by doing menial manual work. How does such a family break the shackle of poverty? They cannot aquire more skills for lack of money and time. This is a catch 22 situation. If the taxpayers money cannot be used to educate somebody else we are stuck. A section of the society will always remain impoverished.

Blaming other people is an easy way out to avoid real responsibility. Personal change starts from the individual. If the person affected is not really serious on changing his/her future, maybe because of feeling some comfort in getting aid from other people, then things will remain the same. I was brought up in a poor family. My parents never blamed anyone else. My siblings and I were instilled the value of doing things to improve our lives and not to expect handouts. Since education is important in all aspects of life a lot of money was spent in seeking knowledge. Many poor people in my country blame the government. They get aid and are still not satisfied with what they have. Some of them dared to falsify their details in application forms, to make them appear poor on paper. In reality some of them are better off than my family. They are now fighting to have entertainment brought into their homes. There are 'poor' people who are quite choosy. When offered a menial job they claim they cannot do this, and they cannot do that. They want an office job with minimal responsibility. They want a high salary so that they can pay their Astro bills, go out to eat and have some entertainment, and have a big car. Since the government cannot entertain their demands they say they are being victimised. 'God will never change the life of a person unless the person changes it himself/herself'. In other words we have to try to make a change. all the best, rosdimy

Yes I agree with you. That the only way to any success in life is for "US" to decide what we will do with our life so that we can be successful. I agree that we should never blame somebody else with what is happening with our life. We have a choice. We all have the choice to have a better life. We can move out from poverty and we can always be successful. It is just a matter of attitude. But then there are still a lot of reasons to be considered why there are a lot of poor. After all the blame to ourselves why we are poor, I guess it is just fair to say that the rest can be blamed with the government, the education we got, our family, the system running in our country, corruption and many many more. After exhausting all the possible means why we are poor, after doing everything we could think of but still we are poor, then maybe the problem is no longer with us. I was raised by my great grandmother and ever since I was a kid, she already taught me a lot about life. Maybe the attitude a baby will have depends on the way he or she was raised. The rest will come from the environment and the people he will encounter for the rest of his life. But a baby has no choice if he or she was born in poverty. So his life is dependent on what his parents could only offer. Unless a luck comes in. If he will be chosen for a full scholarship to finish his education then that is good. He will then start to influence other poor because he came from it. Or the worst thing could happen, he may be a bad influence to others after being nurtured by a rich environment. So I guess attitude is a factor. Rich people have the right to remain rich if they worked hard with what they have. But those who are rich because of corruption have no right because they got the money from the people. I admire those who are poor but were able to make a plan, execute it and succeed with it. I wish all poor people are like that so that they can be successful in life. I wish we should not always blame others. But then those poor and uneducated people who never wanted to be like the way they are should be given help. Proper investigation is needed so that help will only be given to those who deserve it. Some poor are abusive too. Some are really in need. One more thing, we should learn to help ourselves first before we depend on others.

I strongly agree with your point of view. What I have come to realize is that many individuals find it easier to put the blame on others for something that they know they could have tried to prevent. In the back of their mind they know that they could call those numbers for the children in Africa and donate only $1.00, but they make excuses like they don't have enough time or whatever. For people that I see living in poverty here in Texas, it's a very troubling thought to know that there is something that I can be doing to help them, it's just that I haven't figured it out yet. I do try my best though to talk with people that I see who are asking for money, listen to their story, and give them my opinion on what they should do. I suppose in a way, that is the most valuable help you can give someone is to just care and treat them like a normal individual. I feel so uncomfortable when I see people at stoplights standing there with a cardboard sign asking for money for food. I don't feel uncomfortable to see them or be around them, it's because I feel uncomfortable for them. I know that I am the only one wishing that the light would not turn a little bit longer just so that I can have a quick chat with them. Everyone else is desperately waiting to slam their foot on that pedal and won't dare look them in the eye, but I do, and it never fails to warm my heart when I see them smile back all because I looked them directly in the eye. I am glad that you are not living in poverty anymore, it's a terrible to place to be but I find that when you get to those low spots in your life, you learn to appreciate the small things yea? I know I do and even when I got out of poverty, I kept those qualities of appreciation. Good luck to you and God Bless.:)

Your discussion is deep. Lately, every day Im surrounded by poor people. When I say poor, I mean just that. They simply have no means of survival. They depend on food aid sent to them. These are people who did not choose to be in the situation in which they are. One thing I can say though is that 'pressure makes diamond.'These poor people know how to share. You give a child a cookie, they will run home and share it with their siblings. I have seen though, another set of people who 'choose' to be poor. They can work, but they will wait for someone else to work for them. They are always extending their hands for help and are usually thankless, they have a lot of children they cant support and put the responsibility to raise them on others. So well yes, sometimes we can do nothing about poverty, sometimes we can decide to live in poverty all our lives even when we can do something about it. If we can do something like you did, the better.

The only thing we can do is to decide. That's definitely damn right, yo. Can't agree with you more on this spot. Long long ago, I just held this view. Most faults conducted by people are just from us. We are the ones to be blame but we always deny them. What a shame. Shame on oursleves. Thank you ParaTed2k, you made us think about ourselves and I hope WE consider this deep and really reflect inside. Struggling on the edge of poverty is not easy, love should be spreading all over the world. We'd better find a way... God bless.