Poverty is a State of Mind - Do you Agree?

Yes, it's a mindset, but the poorer you start with, the harder it is to develop a wealthy mindset. You dont have the role models, teachers, etc. You can still do it, but it's harder than if you have wealthy parents.

 

I disagree.

Despite having been dead poor as a kid, I vowed to not live my life as one lf those people.

That is a self-imposed mindset.

Once you have that; then you start to seek out the right path and the right people automatically.

In Australia, any kid has the opportunity to (eventually) escape poverty.

Will it be easy? Hell no for many...but they can do it.

 

Yes, this does make sense.

Ever hear about this story from Homeless to Harvard. Watched the interview years ago. Amazing stuff.

Liz Murray: 'My parents were desperate drug addicts. I'm a Harvard graduate'

 

Poor in australia, where you get decent education and its fairly safe is different from a ghetto where no one works, people are getting shot all the time and poverty is entrenched after a couple centuries of discrimination. Third world country poverty is one extreme. Life in an american poor area is a lot closer to that than any white neighbourhood in australia.

You have to work a LOT harder to get there, and that takes a stronger mindset.

 

If you are born in a wealthy country like Australia, with a functional loving family, you suffer from no disability that impacts on your ability to generate income, you suffer from no minority sector inclusion that creates prejudice against you, and you attended a medium quality public school or better then

Poverty is a mindset.

It is easier to say it when your parents are in the top 1% of income earners world wide.

 

Believe me when I say "I'm no expert" but I have to say everything is a mind set.
What you believe to be true at the present regardless if its really true or not.
Are you "really happy" now or is it a destination?
What is happiness to you?
Do you have a conscience?
Do you have morals?
Do you really think about the impact you have on others whether its direct or indirect?
Do you really care?
Mindset of a lot of people on this forum,
Sure they have endured some so called hardship to accumulate the physical assets they have today but you can thank those that have a poor mindset that helped you get to where you are today.
At some point in your life in clawing the riches ladder, have you purchased anything that had been produced by these poor mindset people?. Have you leased a property out to those of a poorer mindset? Have you had something repaired by those of a poor mindset.
Do you rely on those of a poor mindset for your wealth?
Come on...........let shake this up a little.
Im on a journey to find my missing pieces.

 

Jokes aside I agree. With the exception of the extreme poor and some other exceptions, for the majority of folks, Mindset/psychological conditioning/philosophical beliefs (though grossly underestimated by most) is the determining factor of how your life will turn out. Period.

 

I dont believe it is the case that those with a "poor mindset" have helped any of us get to where we are today to any large degree, and a good number of these folks might have been "poor mindset" folks themselves at an earlier time; who changed their mindset...

All of us have had a combination of help from rich, poor, negative, positive , inspirational, mentoring - even 'kick @rse" tough love help to get us to where we are; but the underlying catalyst has always been the inner mindset of the person themselves.

Many here have been poor, but have not had a "poor mindset" and/or wallowed in or complained about being poor and let their poverty keep them in poverty.

The tone of this post seems like it is saying that folks who have become successful (financially) have some issue with folks with the wrong mindset, and/or have contrmp/disrespect for the help received from poor mindset folks along the way?

I dont believe this is the case for pretty much any wealthy folks I have ever met...in fact; most are benevolent and help those less fortunate on a regular basis either with their time, their advice, and/or their own money.

What it always comes back to is how the "poor mindset" folks approach their position in life....

From my experience; a rich person who started with little and clawed their way up will usually respect a poor person who has the right attitude and rises above being a victim....most rich folks dont forget where they came from.

A rich person usually will try to still help a poor person where possible - even if their mindset is not a good one; but the respect would be at a lower level for that person, for sure.

 

If you don't have this I would suggest you fit the social path mould

 

Looks like people are trying to discuss 2 different things here. Being poor is not the same as being in poverty. They are related, but not the same.

Being in poverty, like I said earlier, means that you literally cannot afford food, shelter, clothing and medicine. Life's essentials. Saying that this is a mind-set issue is ignorant at best and arrogant at worst.

I'd argue that being poor is the state of mind. It's about not appreciating what you do have and what you can do. It's also about comparing yourself to others.. funny that 'envy' and 'poor' seem to run together in the same minds.

 

It's a 2 edged sword, highly recommend watching the recent SBS program/experiment on homelessness. This was both emotionally moving and fascinating. It bought home that poverty can 'happen to the best of them' and sometimes through cruel and unavoidable life events or a result of family of origin issues. Makes you realise there are people who would certainly have value to society but for various reasons have ended up struggling. They do need to take some responsibility for this however it is clear that the answer is not simple and a compassionate stance is important as it is often through the influence of friendship and trust that their pathway back to a better position will be laid.

I think we all need to take some individual responsibility and stop living like it's a game of survival of the fittest. This is the only way a real difference will be made. A small commitment to help people in need from many who already have plenty will make a massive difference. I know some members here already give generously and make a difference.

 

Interesting view on Life by Morgan Freeman:

 

poverty
ˈpɒvəti/
noun

1. 1.
   the state of being extremely poor.
   "thousands of families are living in abject poverty"
   synonyms: penury, destitution, indigence, pennilessness, privation, deprivation, impoverishment, neediness, need, want, hardship, impecuniousness, impecuniosity, hand-to-mouth existence, beggary, pauperism, straitened circumstances, bankruptcy, insolvency;More
2. 2.
   the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount.
   "the poverty of her imagination"
   synonyms: scarcity, deficiency, dearth, shortage, paucity, insufficiency, inadequacy, absence, lack, want, deficit, meagreness, limitedness, restrictedness, sparseness, sparsity;More

poor
pɔː,pʊə/
adjective

1. 
   
   
   • 1.
     lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society.
     "they were too poor to afford a telephone"
     synonyms: poverty-stricken, impoverished, necessitous, beggarly, in penury, penurious, impecunious, indigent, needy, needful, in need/want, badly off, low-paid, in reduced circumstances, in straitened circumstances, destitute, hard up, short of money, on one's beam-ends, unable to make ends meet, underprivileged, deprived, penniless, without a sou, as poor as a church mouse, moneyless; More
     
   • 2.
     of a low or inferior standard or quality.
     "many people are eating a very poor diet"
     synonyms: substandard, below standard, below par, bad, deficient, defective, faulty, imperfect, inferior, mediocre; More

Where does POOR end and POVERTY begin?

I would argue that POVERTY is one week away from POOR based on your definition of POVERTY (not saying yours is wrong, though)...a person in poverty can get some work, or get a job, and start earning money enough to elevate to POOR in one paycheck...

Of course; if there is no work at all; anywhere, then yeah; to me that's poverty.

 

I think your definition of poor actually highlights my point perfectly.

That is about comparing yourself (or being compared) to others, and 'comfortable/normal' is a subjective term.

 

Earning $120K and living in rental accom in double bay Sydney = poverty line.

Its not about income. Its standard of living.

 

Like this, proof in the pudding right

 

In Australia, I think poverty is very comfortable compared to many other countries. You can be dirt poor in Australia, and still afford accomodation, enough food and a warm bed without even needing to work. Those who can't manage those basics are not spending their money wisely. If I lost everything I can almost guarantee I still would not be sleeping outside on the streets- I would be doing it tough but I feel there is a lot of support out there to assist in making sure you can make sure your basic needs are met.

 

We are blessed in Australia, you just need the right mindset and the world in your oyster

 

This is Australia. You can be in the poorest household in the country and still be part-way up Maslow's Hierarchy.

You can be homeless and sleeping out in a city or town, but you will have clean air to breathe, free water to drink from bubblers and no militia shooting at you. I haven't been to the Aboriginal communities that featured in the UN outcry about how the govt doesn't take enough care of indigenous communities and how the govt doesn't supply running water and electricity. (well not that I am aware of). The communities I visited in my recent trip were centred around waterholes and natural springs, so "city" water wasn't an issue. You can get by without electricity too. What did the early settlers do before electricity was available?

 

There is already - and has been in the past - an absolute King's ransom of money directed towards this section of the Community over many, many, many years...

One of the cold hard realities of this problem is the remoteness of a good number of the communities, the lack of employment opportunities in those areas, lack of schooling and other issues.

Even Warren Mundine admits to all of the above; and he is an Aboriginal.