Poverty
What is it?
There is a family that was recently relocated from a shack on stilts
to a new apartment with a bathroom and a kitchen.
But, they don't know how to use the toilet...
and they don't have the income to pay for the new bills,
water, electricity, mortgage...
And, they haven't figured out how to use the toilet...
Poverty
There is a woman that loads her bicycle with vegetables
every day
and rides the 3 kilometers to the city center
where she lays her produce neatly on the ground
and waits for passersby to purchase it.
At dusk, she once again boards her bicycle
and rides the 3 kilometers home
to tend the fields, feed the children,
sweep the dirt floors,
and prepare for tomorrow's journey.
Poverty
There is a woman who lost everything the day
she learned of her breast cancer.
Nightmares later, she found herself in a
resettlement neighborhood,
living as one of the 'poorest of the poor'.
Poverty
But that family who didn't know how to use a toilet
shared their one room apartment with
a homeless family.
And the woman on the bicycle shared her bicycle
on weekends with a neighbor who had no other way
to get to the city.
Wealth
And the woman who lost everything to cancer
organized the 'poorest of the poor' to create a fund
for a single mother who was starving.
She taught the neighborhood children to
care for the cleanliness of the streets.
She inspired the neighbors to save what little cash they have
and to invest in community development projects
or to share with those less fortunate than themselves.
The little girl that learned to keep the streets clean
taught a grown woman about environmental protection.
And the 'poorest of the poor' children saved their pennies
to share with a child who had nothing...
Wealth
My God, we in the states have gotten so lost!
While children starve,
we, daily, throw away food.
While people struggle to get their produce to town,
we buy a second and a third car.
While people live on the streets or in shacks on stilts,
we covet more square footage and a view.
Poverty
While children and elderly are swept away
in flooding,
we ignore how our actions create climate change.
Poverty
While families die in wars to extract yet more oil
from an oil-depleted earth,
we drive two blocks to the store.
This, my friends, is our poverty.
It is poverty of spirit.
It creates wreckage in peoples' lives -
people who we've never even seen!
It kills and starves and maims and destroys.
We only need to look and we will see.
We hold so much of the answer, you know.
We, who by fortune of birth, find ourselves living
in the richest country in the world.
Because of our relative wealth,
we can make important changes to breath life
into this planet and show compassion for all.
Creating wealth
The little girl from the 'poorest of the poor'
could find a way
to help her neighbor.
Creating Wealth
The woman who lost everything to breast cancer
keeps finding ways to help.
Creating Wealth
We can join this movement of people who reach beyond themselves
into the community of humankind.
We can contribute.
We must contribute.
And in breathing hope into life for others,
we regain our own wealth of spirit
and escape, ourselves, from poverty.
Create Wealth
What is it?
There is a family that was recently relocated from a shack on stilts
to a new apartment with a bathroom and a kitchen.
But, they don't know how to use the toilet...
and they don't have the income to pay for the new bills,
water, electricity, mortgage...
And, they haven't figured out how to use the toilet...
Poverty
There is a woman that loads her bicycle with vegetables
every day
and rides the 3 kilometers to the city center
where she lays her produce neatly on the ground
and waits for passersby to purchase it.
At dusk, she once again boards her bicycle
and rides the 3 kilometers home
to tend the fields, feed the children,
sweep the dirt floors,
and prepare for tomorrow's journey.
Poverty
There is a woman who lost everything the day
she learned of her breast cancer.
Nightmares later, she found herself in a
resettlement neighborhood,
living as one of the 'poorest of the poor'.
Poverty
But that family who didn't know how to use a toilet
a homeless family.
And the woman on the bicycle shared her bicycle
on weekends with a neighbor who had no other way
to get to the city.
Wealth
And the woman who lost everything to cancer
organized the 'poorest of the poor' to create a fund
for a single mother who was starving.
She taught the neighborhood children to
care for the cleanliness of the streets.
She inspired the neighbors to save what little cash they have
and to invest in community development projects
or to share with those less fortunate than themselves.
The little girl that learned to keep the streets clean
taught a grown woman about environmental protection.
And the 'poorest of the poor' children saved their pennies
to share with a child who had nothing...
Wealth
My God, we in the states have gotten so lost!
While children starve,
we, daily, throw away food.
While people struggle to get their produce to town,
we buy a second and a third car.
While people live on the streets or in shacks on stilts,we covet more square footage and a view.
Poverty
While children and elderly are swept away
in flooding,
we ignore how our actions create climate change.
Poverty
While families die in wars to extract yet more oil
from an oil-depleted earth,
we drive two blocks to the store.
This, my friends, is our poverty.It is poverty of spirit.
It creates wreckage in peoples' lives -
people who we've never even seen!
It kills and starves and maims and destroys.
We only need to look and we will see.
We hold so much of the answer, you know.
We, who by fortune of birth, find ourselves living
in the richest country in the world.
Because of our relative wealth,
we can make important changes to breath life
into this planet and show compassion for all.
Creating wealth
The little girl from the 'poorest of the poor'
could find a way
to help her neighbor.
Creating Wealth
The woman who lost everything to breast cancer
keeps finding ways to help.
Creating Wealth
We can join this movement of people who reach beyond themselves
into the community of humankind.We can contribute.
We must contribute.
And in breathing hope into life for others,
we regain our own wealth of spirit
and escape, ourselves, from poverty.
Create Wealth
