Poverty: Do You Know It When You See It?

Every 3 seconds, a child
dies from extreme poverty
 (Photo credit: Wen-Yan King)

I read an essay by Diana George called "Changing the Face of Poverty," and it got me wondering how many people I encounter every day are actually living in poverty.  One of her points is that if you base your idea of what poverty looks like on pictures like the one I have here, you are likely to misinterpret the size of the problem.  This reminded me of something I heard from a girl I went to high school with:  she told me that she knew a family that had to sell almost everything they owned because both parents were out of work, and the whole family eventually had to cut back on food so that they could look like things were okay with them.  If you saw the kids, you wouldn't be able to tell there was a problem, because their clothing was in really good shape and clean.  She said that the parents refused to apply for any kind of help, like food stamps or going to a food bank, because they were afraid that their neighbors would find out.  And all the while, they were sitting and sleeping on the floor, since they had sold all the furniture.  A couple of days later, I realized that it was her family she was talking about.
 

Related articles

• Census: Poverty Falls Slightly in 2011, Median Family Income Drops (dailyfinance.com)
• Urban Institute - Poverty in the United States (bespacific.com)
• The poverty problem: Cornel West and Tavis Smiley speak out (familysurvivalprotocol.com)