What is Poverty?

According to When Helping Hurts, humanity is based on relationships, and there are really only four types: to God, to self, to others, and to the rest of creation. Because of the fall of humanity, all four of these categories have been damaged, although not destroyed. Therefore, poverty is the effects of these broken relationships. In other words, every human on earth is impoverished in some aspect, although maybe not materialistically. For instance, many North American Christians are wealthy in a monetary sense, but they may be impoverished in their relationship to self, leading to pride or self-consciousness or impoverished in their relationship to others, leading to isolation, loneliness, or idolatry of friendships. In reality, every problem on earth can be traced to the brokenness of our relationships in these four categories. We form our culture out of this discord, and our culture forms us. Gender roles, oppressive hierarchies, bondage, and all other types of pain are a result of our poverty. Because of the materialism of the Western society, “poverty” is almost always defined as a monetary problem instead of a multi-faceted affliction that faces us all. Because of this, “poverty-alleviation” techniques generally are aimed at somehow providing funds or “developing” other societies. However, before we can attempt to aid anyone else, we must first recognize our own poverty. We are no better than others, no matter their financial situation. In many ways, I’m beginning to think that those we are attempting to “aid” should actually be out-reaching to us. It’s very rare to find Westerners who are content like the Rwanda farmers I have met. Their sense of peace and community is amazing. Who really should be doing the “missions”? Instead of creating aid that unconsciously defines one group as superior to the other (“Here, let us help you”), I think that relations between different groups should be a sharing experience. Both have positive and negative attributes. As we attempt to show others better ways to make an income, they can show us the meaning of tranquility and deep relationships. Until we can meet in the middle and recognize our sameness in the image of God, we cannot accomplish any lasting good. Somehow, we seem to have minimized the extent of our own poverty, and we have over-simplified the human condition. I hope to continue searching for truth in every country, every day, and every moment for the rest of my life. God is alive and well in all corners of the Earth and every human heart, whether we can recognize it or not. His all-consuming power astounds me and humbles me to see that I am so much less than I like to believe and yet so much more than I have limited myself to. We are all uniquely the same.