Poverty Is A Choice: Unsaid Words During The Competition
Is poverty a chance or a choice? A question that is often asked in every competition. "Science tells us that our genetic imprint predetermines your fate, your character, your choices", said by the infamous Zoe Tuazon. Starting from the moment of our birth, it seems that our fate is already written as if it's some sort of a prophecy. There is a long list of rights which every child is this world is entitled to but despite that, is it safe to say that they get equal amounts of rights in our society?
Our societal class is only one of the few things that is predetermined since the date of our birth. Low-class, high-class, or maybe a mere middle-class. For the most part of our society, poverty looks more like a chance than a choice but on the other side of the coin, poverty is a choice that a lot of them currently experiences. Take note, I said a lot of them but I didn't exactly say all of them.
According to Karl Marx's Conflict Theory, a problem will always rise if the resources are not properly distributed to every member of the society. The concept of equality differs from person to person and for me, it means receiving only the right amount of treatment that you deserve. A scenario that I have read on an another social media platform is the perfect representation of this. Let me explain why.
The teacher asked each and every student, "What part of your body hurts? Tell me and I will put a bandaid on it". The first student said, "My shoulders hurt, teacher". The teacher then proceed to put a bandaid on the student's shoulders. On to the next student, he said that his index finger hurts. Despite that, the teacher put the bandage onto the boy's shoulders. The same thing happened with the remaining students. The teacher put the bandages on their shoulders despite them saying that a different body part of them hurts. Is this the true meaning of equality? Because the teacher still gave all of them bandages, right? But no. As I have said, equality is receiving the kind of treatment that you deserve. In that way, everyone is cured despite them having different problems.
Going back to what I was saying, this is the same as the situation of the government and its citizens right now. The government provides help yet that help isn't exactly fitting for everyone. The government's aim is to help the majority since it can not address every citizen's concerns. There are free services available everywhere in this country, everything that its citizens need is literally right infront of them. The problem here is that Filipinos expect everything to be spoon-fed to them. Despite the available services, they don't exert their very best to uplift themselves.
Aside from that, rich families who often posts about their expensive purchases and luxurious vacations continue to suffer from public humiliation. Comments like "You should donate your money instead of spending it all for your own satisfaction. You can't bring those to heaven after you die but these people will benefit from your money. You're wasting all of your money!" are everywhere. We shall keep in mind that these people are not obligated to help those who are in need. Donating is supposed to be voluntary. How they spend their money doesn't have anything to do with your own classification in the society.
Poverty is a choice. I get that there might be hurdles along the way and that it is harder for the marginalized to blend in with the middle-class citizens of this country but they have to at least try. Because if not, the efforts of the government will only be put in vain. In the end, the country will just suffer from the increasing poverty rate and the toxic mindset will be passed on to the next generation.
