Some of the poor are poor because of bad life choices it is true but being born poor dramatically increases the odds that you will make poor life choices. I was born poor but was lucky enough to have a parent who pulled herself out of poverty. I was the second person on my mother’s side of the family to even graduate from high school and it is a big family. We were very poor when I was young but things got a lot better for us in the early 70’s. I have seen what poverty does and how hard it is to overcome poverty. In most cases it takes generations. In my mother’s generation almost no one was educated. In mine just a few of us managed to finish high school and no one completed a full bachelors’ degree. In my kids generation all of my mother’s grandchildren have finished high school and most of them have gone on to get some college with the oldest graduating this May with BA. Of course not all branches of the family have been so successful and my mother’s siblings who remained poor have grand children and great grandchildren being raised in poverty.

It is hard to understand how deep the affects of poverty go without first hand experience. Poverty isn’t just about being poor it affects the way you see the world and not normally in a positive way. Yes hard work can get sometimes get you of poverty but I have known too many hard working poor people to believe that is all it takes. Poverty can be overcome but it is very hard and I don’t think it is fair to act like it is a simple choice or a result of laziness. Most poor people were born that way. When most of the poor are children I think it is really hard to call it the results of their actions.