The Luxury of Ignorance

"Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry, all things easy. He that rises late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night, while laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him." -Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

"The hopes of the Republic cannot forever tolerate either undeserved poverty or self-serving wealth." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945)

There are currently 37 million people living in poverty in the United States. With the current economic crisis, I'm sure that number is rising, and yet people continue to remain ignorant.

Here are the people that are not ignorant: teachers, bus drivers, charities, convicted felons, prison guards, observant citizens, and many others.

There is a power structure in America, though some of us would not like to admit it. This is the land of opportunity and equality after all.

To have power, wealth, and influence you must be: white, male, middle-aged, have a college education, Christian, straight. This is a stereotype, but to be poor you are: young or elderly, part of a minority group, etc.

The luxury of ignorance is to have the miraculous ability to be blind to what is around you. And in some way, we all remain ignorant. "I'm not affected by it, why should I care?"

The answer: Yes, you are affected by it. You are affected by this issue in your school and in your public safety system. The majority of the people in our prisons are drug addicts. Are those really the people who should be incarcerated?

Poverty is an issue in our public schools. Nothing is being done for the failing inner city schools. The blame is placed on the teachers. Teachers cannot take care of everything. Studies have shown that children who come from families living in poverty have lower cognitive development that those from upper and middle class families. When the fist enter the classroom as small children they possess a lower number of words that they know than those who come from wealthier families.

Some of you would probably say that these people are the undeserving poor. The deserving poor Benjamin Franklin mentioned in the quote I opened this blog with. Before the twentieth century the poor were separated into two categories: the deserving poor and the undeserving poor. It was the fault of those stricken by poverty that they were in it. They were poor because they must have been lazy.

This idea has continued today. It's up to those in poverty to pull themselves out of poverty. However, they don't have the resources to pull themselves out of poverty by their bootstraps. That's why Lyndon Johnson spent so much money on public works projects aimed at assisting the poor even though his policies were eaten up by the Vietnam War.

Do not include yourself in the system by saying, "I'm not poor; it doesn't affect me. Why should I care?" Take a moment to look around you when you're in a public place such as a downtown bus center. If you didn't think this was a major issue, you may be surprised. If you're in high school, look around you. You may find something you didn't, and it isn't something pleasant.