Trollheart

Let's have a discussion about poverty. Would it be an oversimplification (though still, I believe, true) to say that poor people have never really been poor because they're poor, but because the richer classes keep them so? Down through history, men have always desired a worker/slave class to do all the work and bring in the revenue, whether it be for their kingdoms, cities or corporations, and the rigid class system that existed, at least in Britain, up to about the middle of the twentieth century, effectively kept the poor "in their place": certain jobs (the best, highest-paying and most respected ones) were out of their reach. You want to be a doctor? Don't be poor. You'd like to teach? Come from a rich or landed or titled family (preferably all three). This is where the phrase "Ideas above his station" comes from: you were born into one class, and not expected, or allowed, to move beyond that. You had to know your place. It's only relatively recently that the barriers have been, to some extent, broken down as the class system evaporates or at least draws back, becomes less important, less a governing factor in people's lives.

How much do we think about the poor? Do we, sitting down to a nice dinner and nudging the central heating up a notch cos it's cold outside, ever think of those who have nothing? There's a line in a Genesis song called "Undertow" which goes "Curtains are drawn/Now the fire warms the room/ Meanwhile outside wind from the northeast chills the air/ It will soon be snowing out there/ And some there are/ Cold, they prepare for a sleepless night/ Maybe this will be their last fight." Then the song goes on "But we're safe in each other's embrace/ All fears go as I look on your face."

Are we all like this? Do we care? I'm not a rich man, but I'm not poor. I did work all my life, so nobody can say I had anything handed to me, though what I have is at any rate not much. I live in a council house my parents rented, I have very little savings (we're not living hand to mouth or anything but we don't have much disposable income to speak of - Chula and his quarter million makes me green with envy, and I wish I had saved more when I was able to but anyway) but I can pay the bills, meet medical expenses, get the odd thing for the house - carpet, paint etc - and if I want to buy something, generally, I can. I may have to wait a week or so, but unless it's something really expensive it's usually within my financial reach.

Do I think of those who struggle to literally put food on the table or clothes on their kids' backs when I'm agonising over whether or not to buy that new pair of headphones, or whatever? No, not really. Do I care? On a very surface level, yes, but beyond that, other than the usual and useless "Oh isn't it terrible how many poor/homeless people there are?" bleating, I couldn't say I do much if anything to alleviate the situation. Because when it comes down to it, it's not something that directly affects me. It's sad, and I'm ashamed to say it, but it's the truth. Have I contributed to poverty by not buying from local businesses? Almost certainly. Do I pass beggars on the street? Most times. Is this typical of us as a species? What do you think? Have you other ideas?

Let's talk about it.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018