The document discusses the issue of poverty and approaches to addressing it. It makes three key points: 1) Helping those in poverty must consider their individual beliefs, needs, and dignity, otherwise proposed solutions will not work and may infringe on their rights. A one-size-fits-all approach cannot be taken. 2) Those in poverty are individuals with unique characteristics, circumstances, and preferences that must be taken into account to effectively help them. Simply providing money or other aid may not address their specific challenges or respect their autonomy. 3) For efforts to alleviate poverty to succeed, the humanity and individuality of those living in poverty must remain the top priority throughout the process. Their dignity, independence

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Ben Howe
Kaatz 6th
Pre AP English II
10 November 2014
The Individuals in Poverty
The global issue of poverty is one of the most highly discussed and intensely
debated issues this time, with issues about different types of methods and how feasible
they are being at the forefront of the issue. One of the basic issues of poverty and the
challenges around fighting the epidemic is the cultural and individual preferences the
improvised, and the majority of the population, have about the methods and tactics used
to fix it. The bottom line of this issue is that the people in poverty are the most important
aspect of the cause, and if any of these tactics impugn on the beliefs’ or ideals of those in
need, they are useless and need to be stopped. This problem must be overcome for
society to achieve its goal of, if not obliterating poverty, to at least minimalize it.
The individual going through poverty is one of the most is one of the most
analyzed and yet misunderstood segments of our global population. The analyzation is
warranted with 2.2 billion people in the world living on less than two United States
dollars a day as of 2011. Although it is necessary to research and predict trends and
numbers of the impoverished peoples of our world it is as, if not more, important to think
of these men and women as people first, not the statistics we are brought to believe. No
matter the statistics or trend predicted each individual that is below the poverty is a

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separate entity with individual needs. If we wish to help these peoples escape the lives
they are in we must consider what they want as well.
It is obvious to most of us that there is a difference in the cultural, religious, and
ethnic beliefs of the sub Saharan African groups and that of the Eastern Europeans, just
as there is for and cultural group. This obvious distinction is somehow lost to our minds
when dealing with the poor of those same groups. The same methods and tried over the
Americas as in China expecting the same results time after time. It is thought that the
poor of those countries only are characterized in the group of impoverished peoples,
when in actuality they fall in many other independent groups just as prominently. The
person on the side of the street may be American, Caucasian, male, disabled, and Jewish
in addition to being homeless. These defining traits make a person lyable to have
different beliefs’ about their situation and different philosophies about how they can and
should get out of the situation. For example certain peoples mat not be willing to take
handouts, but would be more than willing to take a job, while others may have physical
issues and can’t work a normal job. Also some may have problems with alcohol or other
drugs in which case neither money nor work would help, but rather consoling and
intervention would be the right approach. These issues and others must be dealt with not
simply worked around or ignored all together. Those who infringe on an individual’s
dignity or beliefs for the sake of the greater good are not helping or fixing the problem
but in fact are making the cause harder by skewing the public’s sense of this issue.
Another major issue faced in fixing the poverty epidemic is making sure
the people being served retain their rights. This surprisingly has been a major cause of
concern for governments and foreign aid programs for both men and women. There are

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cases of impoverished groups all over the U.S., especially in the major cities like New
York, Boston, and L.A. among others. This forces large numbers of people to
government projects and other residences, even if these people are living on their own
property. The government claims they are saving these people but this is a cause of
debate none the less. This problem is even more relevant in more crowded countries
simply for the case of clearing the land. While these people are, in most cases, taken care
of, there is a violation of personal rights and a cycle being developed of these people
relying on the government. There is also the problem of the poor in certain countries,
especially communist ones, being forced into jobs in which they get less than fair pay.
This type of discrimination is explained by the respective governments as being a way to
get the individuals involved in the economy and get personal money. It is also claimed
that after they proof they are ready they will be able to go to another field, although this
doesn’t happen most of the time. Finally there is a very common practice in the first
world countries of taking the children of the impoverished away to put them in foster
homes. While in many cases this is necessary, there is certain time in which the
government takes children away even if they are being feed and going to school. This
defies the legal authority a parent retains over their child and can damage the parent’s
chances or desire to fix their situation. Even in the cases where child custody is rightly
taken a wrong is usually done to parents in the process. There are laws in many countries
and states claiming that if a child is taken away from a guardian that person can’t visit
that child in the home, and even after the child becomes an adult he is not given the
address of the caretaker. While the restriction of parents or other guardians being not able
to see their child is an unnecessary and counterproductive act in itself, the law in parts of

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this county where parents are not allowed to be given the information of their child after
adulthood is a blatant disregard for both of the individual’s rights. All of the above
practices are used to try to help socirty and further the interests of the collective. The
question that must be asked regarding these policies is are these policies doing more harm
than help, and even if the answer is the latter, is the help that is being done worthy the
rights of the families and individuals being taken advantage of? I believe that the
individual impoverished or not, has more rights than the monetary or political gains to be
had.
Finally, we have the crux of the issue, an individual’s dignity and wants verses the
actions done to try to help those very individuals. The individual impoverished should be
the one and only priority regarding an action directed towards them. Governments often
times focus one the political or economic details surrounding the improvised in their
nation. Even the people that are trying to help them are guilty of overlooking these needs,
thinking of only monetary ways to help, not helping the actual state of the person. To
properly help those in society that are poor we must first and foremost conceder their
personal desires for their life. If those in need want help they must be listened to in order
to give them what they need. If these peoples are forced into mold of certain dollar
amounts needed, or ran through a checklist of what needs to be done we are not helping
them and wasting resources. The only people who know what the poor need are the poor
themselves, and if those people are listened to the problem of poverty could be fixed
much more efficiently. The dignity of those being served must be the top priority, even if
to preserve this dignity the person cannot obtain help. The reason for this is if a person is
stripped of their dignity they lose the sense of individuality they obtain and will, most

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likely, not feel the drive to fix their poverty. The individuals goals and independence
must be preserved though the helping process or the very good trying to be accomplished
is rendered mute.
Poverty is arguably the biggest issue facing our human world in this day. The
billions of people affected by it struggle to life productive and helpful lives and, in some
cases, to simply survive another day. There is many people trying to stop this horrible
cycle and to empower the poor to break from there chains and become a productive
member of society. There is many different ways this is being attempted. It is being done
through, money, housing, counseling, and even just buying food. It is important,
however, that through this process it is not lost that these people are exactly that; people.
We may give them all the tools and steps necessary to escape that life but if in that
process it is forgotten that they are real, separate individual beings with separate ideas
and thoughts, we are hurting them. There is no formula to help people, just as there is no
formula to raise children; it differs from person to person. The issue of povery is one we
have to face as a society, and face correctly. The way to do that is simple; know that the
man on the corner is every bit the human you are.

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Biblography
Cite 1- http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
Cite 2- http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/01/11/discrimination-inequality-and-
poverty-human-rights-perspective
Cite 3-http://www.arbitragemagazine.com/features/ten-solutions-to-poverty/
Cite 4-http://borgenproject.org/innovative-solutions-to-poverty-and-hunger/
Cite 5-http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/