I see the argument. I can
completely understand how some people would view poverty as a choice. In some
cases, I would even agree with that idea. There are definitely people who make
conscious decisions to remain in poverty. But this is the exception, not the
rule.
The “pull yourself up by your
bootstraps” method doesn’t always work. There is only so much a person can do
when the odds are already unbelievably stacked against them.
The argument that the drug dealer
or the homeless man on the corner are choosing poverty because they don’t go
out to get a real job is flawed. They’re not choosing poverty; they’re choosing
to eat. They’re doing the only thing that they know in order to make money. What
we may consider to be bad choices are simply things they have to do daily in
order to survive. I will not condemn those people as “choosing poverty” just
because they don’t have the resources, support, or knowledge necessary to
change their lives.
