Is poverty a curse or a blessing in disguise? The answer to this question lies in our attitude towards poverty. It depends on what we consider poverty as. George Bernard Shaw says if one is going to let the fear of poverty govern their life and their reward will be that they will eat, but they will not live. If we consider poverty as a curse, there would be no charm in it. If we take up poverty as a challenge, and fight it tooth and nail; it is really an opportunity to show our caliber. It would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Poverty compels one to work hard. Poverty makes one to give his or her best. Necessity is the mother of invention. Emerging out of poverty is nothing but rising up from a scratch. It is not easy for men to rise whose qualities are thwarted by poverty. Poverty is a rich experience. One can really be proud of self provided he or she extricates themselves from poverty with their efforts. It is an achievement. It is a dream becoming a reality. One can pat their back themselves for their achievement. It needs hard work, patience, and a little bit of luck too. One requires qualities like patience, forbearance and fortitude to overcome poverty. It is an achievement under adverse circumstances. Their achievement proves that money is not everything. It is through poverty we come to know what life is. We face most of the difficulties of life mostly while combating poverty only. We come to know of value of money and have the best lessons of our life while facing poverty only. Sometime, we come across humiliation in poverty. Many poor people have inferiority complex too. There is hardly any downward journey after poverty. Here is a real story .Bharath Beedi Works provides substantial income to poor families of Karkala. One can sit at home and do the work and earn .It is preparing beedies with tendu leaves. Mr. Pai was from a poor family. He was earning by tying beedies for his education. His family was so big that it seems people were hesitating to call them for a dinner. He studied hard and worked hard. He obtained bachelors degree in commerce in 1968. He passed CAIIB examination in 1969. In 1970, he became an officer in a bank. Thereafter, he climbed the ladder of hierarchy in his career path. He became manager, divisional manager, assistant general manager, deputy general manager, and general manager. He is a self made man. He passed LL B examination even. It is a success story. There are numerous such success stories.
Generally, poverty nobody welcomes. There are people who do not consider poor as their equal. They forget even the fact that the poor are human beings like them. This is really a grave blunder on their part for which they have to repent one day or other. Every effort is being made to eradicate poverty world over. One can understand better what really poverty is only after confronting it. There are some parts of world where poor people even eat mud to survive. About thirty percent of our population is living below the poverty line. Majority of them earn less than a dollar a day. Though there is increase in gross domestic product, it is rich people who are becoming richer and poor remaining as it is in condition .It is the poverty, which divides the society into classes. It is the economical divide amongst us. Nobody likes to be born in a poor family. Poor are denied of many of the comforts of life. There are various degrees in poverty. Some do not have means to have two square meals a day or proper clothes to wear. Some do not have money to meet the medical expenses of family. Some could not even send their children to school due to paucity of funds. Poverty develops inferiority complex among most of the poor people .Though law prohibits child labor, most of the poor children start working right from their childhood. Sometimes, parents unable to feed children due to poverty desert them. Unfortunately, it is poor people who have more number of children and more number of mouths to feed. Some even could not purchase the bear necessities of life. Some do not have a shelter to live in. They are unable rent a house even. They live under trees, or on footpaths or on any vacant place under sky. Society is such that it evaluates man not by virtues, talent and intelligence but by the riches. Poverty compels sometimes people to tread wrong path. Some steal to provide medicines for their ailing children. One cannot even imagine where the poverty would lead a man. Man would be made to stoop to low level by poverty. Some ladies become prostitutes to fill their bellies. Some even kill another man for the sake of money. Most of the poor people are always in look out for ways and means to come out of poverty. That is why it is said that necessity is the mother of inventions. There are instances where geniuses are born in slums. But such people have to toil at every stage of life to come up. There are instances where though some are intellectually not poor, fade away unknown due to their poor financial status. Poverty is always filled with difficulties and miseries too. Difficulties of various dimensions confront individual. Some die of hunger even. People say money makes many things but in reality it is poverty that does everything. Unable to bear the poverty, some commit even suicide. There are some rich people who exploit poor people. This is one of the reasons for the birth of communism also. Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.
Many rich people know what poverty is. But to poor people richness is a distant reality only. It is just like a treasure inside a mirror to them. Sometimes rich people have to learn hospitality, benevolence etc from the poor people who are magnanimous though they do not have adequate resources. Where there is richness, there are friends and relatives just like bees surrounding the honey? It is poor people who suffer a lot from calamities and catastrophes. Poor people do not get always proper nutritious balanced food, and proper sanitation etc. As such, they are prone to diseases like malaria, plague, cholera, tuberculosis and such other diseases. By and large, poor people’s wants are limited and when their wants are satisfied, they become really complacent. Majority of them adapt very well to the circumstances. In case, fortune smiles on a few, they should remember what they were and should be in a position to understand others’ difficulties. In that case only their having led life, as a poor man would be worthwhile. Poor people are generally a little educated or illiterate. Without knowing the pros and cons, sometimes they fall a prey to vices. Their meager income is diverted to drinking, gambling etc and as a result they become penniless and their entire family gets affected. It would be a miracle if they come out of this precarious situation. Poor people generally have to earn their bread on day-to-day basis. At least, with this intention they have to think daily of tomorrow. Poverty and labor go hand in glove. Most of the poor people work for others in order to earn wages so that they could take care of their family. In the process they have to toil like an animal. Generally, rich people utilize helpless position of poor to their advantage. They engage poor people as bonded laborers. Man is sold to another man just like a commodity.
Poverty and richness are not permanent. They are two sides of a coin. Wheel of fortune rotates. Some rich people become poor and similarly some poor people become rich. Those poor people who become rich may not find it difficult in adjusting to their new life except how to enjoy their increased resources. But, the plight of rich that become poor is very difficult to explain. It is really deplorable. Having enjoyed all the comforts and luxuries of life, now without them, they would feel helpless. They become desperate. They find it hard to adjust to new way of life. Those people, who were once showering all praises on them, now look upon them with scant respect. On number of occasions they feel insulted or their feelings get wounded. They become desperate. Even we onlookers feel sorry for them and pray that such a plight should not come even to our enemy. Instead of facing such a situation, we feel that poverty right from the beginning is far better. Hence the saying that a servant can become a lord and live but a lord cannot become a servant and live.