It's not his/her fault

[ This is the November post ]

I was browsing news articles in a japan online newspaper. Most of the articles contained stories of the effects of economic problems faced by the nation. Some of these stories zeroed in on practical real life examples.

There was one article that caught my attention.. it was a theory that by Japan's standards, if your annual net income was below 900,000 pesos (converted amount from Yen equivalent), you are poor.

I was dumbfounded.

By world's standards, I AM POOR. Not just borderline poor. VERY POOR actually. =)

Then the article continued on by stating some examples of people whose lifestyle is considered below the poverty line. I don't want to expound on the details of the lifestyle itself, as this is the person's bias/opinion on it.

What I wanted to ponder on - is the reaction of a reader below the article. In a nutshell, this person was stressing two things. The first is that it's not the person's fault if he/she is poor. Whoever was claiming that life provides equal opportunities to everyone should really see a doctor.

The second point being emphasized by the reader, was that life is all about haves and have-nots. This was really mortifying to hear, but made a lot of sense. After all, what could you do if you were born from a poor family?
You couldn't possibly have the same opportunities of someone who was born and raised in a wealthy one.

And only after realizing this and applying this theory to your situation will you be able to pick better options based on what you have and what you don't have.