Can You Be Poor And Happy?
Every day a poor person person is robbed off dignity.How can you be happy knowing that there are people you will never meet, places you will never go and dreams you will never accomplish because the world does not know you exist? We live in an excessively materialistic world where the value of human life is determined by what you have to offer. The homeless are tied in a cyclical life of despair. You can't be happy when everyday is a question mark and full of hunger and despair. How can you be happy if you have nothing to offer? You may feel content with your life but this doesn't mean you have reached happiness. Being happy means you are healthy and well. Poor people are always in need of food ,water and sometimes even medication so they are always worried about how they will get their next meal. Sometimes even the people who are more fortunate than the poor ,but still have financial problems, go into depression when they can't afford the things that they want not need. So saying a truly poor or homeless person is happy is unacceptable. We sometimes whine about things we want and don't have, homeless people have nothing at all so imagine how they feel? True happiness comes from knowing your purpose. Homeless people don't know their purpose in life because everyday they have to deal with the feeling of wonder and they are always desperate for help. No one wants to have to always be in need 24/7. One day I read an article and it stated a quote that really spoke to me ,"Saying that the poor are happy is an easier narrative to swallow than that the poor are desperate and will flash a smile, a good attitude, and gratitude when the rich westerner has come around to offer something of short-term benefit." - RACHEL PIEH JONES
This quote helps me remember to not make excuses when I see a homeless person begging on the street. It shows us how America reasons with itself until it is convinced that a person would want to be poor or homeless on purpose. So, please before you say "the poor are happy ask yourself how you would feel if you suddenly lost everything, including your purpose for life.
I think that is a good question, how would I feel if I was in the shoes of a homeless person? would I be happy? Honestly speaking I would not be happy, because as we mentioned in the symposium, the human being needs basic necessities such as food, water, and shelter to continue living, and if suddenly we are departed from them life becomes miserable even if our family is there to support. That is why is important to never speak for someone else, because one never knows what tomorrow has prepared.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point of never being happy in life if your basic necessities are not met first. What I do not agree with is that does not mean you do not have a purpose in life. I cannot speculate on the purpose of another ones life but that does not mean their purpose is worthless. Money does account for a lot in life but studies show that happiness associated with money platues relative to happiness.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/map-happiness-benchmark_n_5592194.html
Thus at some point a relative mean with money is corresponding to happiness.
I believe your view on this is great. A person cannot truly be happy if they are always in need of something. However, I do not agree with the thought of a person being poor due to unknown purpose. Instead, it could be any other factor such as loss of job.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that it is difficult to be perfectly content and happy when you are living in poverty. However, I don't believe that wealth defines happiness and I think there are plenty of people who are very wealthy and just as if not more miserable than some that live in total poverty. I do not believe that those in need are lacking in purpose. I believe that your purpose is not defined by your wealth.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it is much harder to be truly happy when you are impoverished and that we should not assume that they are happy when we walk by them on the street, but I do believe that some people who live in poverty are actually truly happy. I do not think that we should put all poor people in one collective group because everyone is different and there are probably a wide variety of people who are actually truly happy. They may not have many material possessions, but they also do not have the many problems that come with having those possessions. I am not saying that all impoverished people are happy because that is obviously not true, but I do think that many of the people still feel that they have a purpose in life that maybe they just haven't found yet. We can never really know the answer to this question until we step into their shoes for a little while and see what they go through. Then we can truly understand whether or not they can be truly happy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that we tend "comfort" ourselves with things by trying to rationalize them to make us feel better about the situation.
ReplyDelete