The Rich Created the Poor!
Let me begin by saying that the phenomenon of poverty is man-made. It is the direct result of excessive greed and primitive accumulation callously promoted by an unjust human economic system. It is instructive to assert, that God did not create a world of poverty. God created a world of abundance: where nature is capable of providing for all our needs, and ensuring that we all live happily with nobody living in lack. The mechanism of providence also ensures that each of God’s creation willingly gives back to life. This process guarantees the equitable distribution of natural provision to meet the needs of all. Mahatma Ghandi was right when he posited that, “The world has enough to meet our needs, but not enough to meet our greed”. Please note that poverty is not about scarcity, but about the equitable distribution of resources.
The root cause of poverty is the human-invented economic capitalist system that promotes individual ownership and accumulation of wealth. The basic tenet of capitalism that ascribes ownership of wealth to mere mortals is antithetical to God’s economic principles. The indisputable sole owner of everything on earth is God. Nobody owns anything in life! Because capitalism promotes the misconception of individual ownership of wealth, people therefore accumulate unnecessarily, thinking that they truly own what they have. Whatever you have today, is only given to you in trust by God. The purpose is to use it to bless others. Did I hear somebody say “but I work hard to make my money, to acquire all the things that I have” Yes! You did. But let me also ask you, “are you the owner of your life? Is it not logical that the one who owns your life automatically owns whatever you have? Okay, when you drop dead today, will you be conscious of those things you think you had worked hard to acquire? Beloved, please don’t deceive yourself. Ownership of material wealth is merely an illusion!
Capitalism also promotes excessive individual accumulation by creating the concept of the ‘rich’ and the ‘poor’. Those that amass so much wealth are branded rich and celebrated by society. While those that live in lack are derogatorily labeled poor, and even reproached by the same society. The rich gets all the recognition by the global media. Forbes magazine even enlists them as the richest and the most powerful people in the world. They are inundated with plethora of awards and titles by society. They control the economy and the governments of the world. The fallout of the hegemonic capitalist system is the prevalence of extreme poverty in the world.
Excessive accumulation of wealth by an infinitesimal ratio of the global population has resulted into a monstrous deprivation for the majority. The global statistic on the incidence of poverty is appalling: Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. More than 80 percent of the world's population lives in abject poverty. It is true that the leaders of the world at different fora , have made concerted efforts to eradicate poverty, but these have remained largely unsuccessful owing to the wrong approach they have deployed to combat the social malaise. The use of social security schemes by developed countries or giving of aids to poor nations would not solve the problem of global poverty. The World Bank, the United Nations and many other global economic bodies have also developed fantastic initiatives and programs aimed at waging war against poverty. But their modest efforts have not yielded much success, because the root cause of poverty has not been addressed. Not until the stranglehold of the capitalist system is dismantled, the cancer of poverty will continue to fester. This is my humble submission! To solve the problem of global poverty: let the rich give their excess possessions to the poor. This gesture will create an egalitarian society which will significantly bridge the disparity between the rich and the poor.
Every one of us, by act of omission or commission contribute to the prevalence of global poverty .whenever you accumulate in excess of what you and your family actually need, your act of greed deprives others of survival. Do really need those fleets of cars in your garage? Why do you build 50-room massion , only to sleep in one room, while many people are homeless sleeping under the bridge? You are busy saving money in the bank for your future and the future your children. Do you have control of the future? That huge amount of money you have in the bank can change the lives of many people. When you invest in the life of people, you make a deposit into the ‘bank’ of eternity. It is an investment that has a guaranteed reward and it is also immuned from mortality. If you drop dead today, your savings may be trapped in the bank or there is every probability that your next of kin and family members may not judiciously use the inheritance ( if you think I am lying, look at the life of the family of most rich dead people: the family either fight over the inheritance or outrightly misuse it)
Finally beloved, you can resolve today, to contribute your little quota to eradicating global poverty, by first conquering personal greed and self-centredness. Your usefulness to life is your contribution, not your accumulation. This is the path of true life. A popular maxim says, “ you make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give”. PLEASE BE WISE!
Together, we can create a world where no child lives in lack!
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