Zaynab Rady:Poverty

The Impact of Poverty on Child’s social and Emotional Competence As Jeffrey D. Sachs said, “History is written by the rich, and so the poor get blamed for everything.” Poverty is considered a disaster that is dangerous not only for one person but also for the whole world. Not being able to provide fundamental needs such as nutrition, health care, education, clothes and shelter can lead to violence, corruption, crime, broken families, destruction of ecosystem, and poor governance. Poverty is one of the largest issues tackled in economics. Poor people suffer from famine, illness, malnutrition, unemployment, and depression. Not having enough money to purchase the things needed to sustain life, such as food, water and shelter, drives individuals to take drastic and dangerous measures to satisfy their basic human needs, such as begging or stealing, for instance. During the twenty-first century, half of people in the United States suffer from deep poverty because they earn less than 2$ of income by day. Poverty is a widespread phenomenon not only in South US but also in the North. Poverty menaces the lives of women, men, and children because it affects the entire society and not just a specific part of people. In addition, poverty influences individual and communal behaviors that elaborate to disturb all members of society. Poverty can lead children to start working at an early age due to their parents’ inability to provide them with their basic needs and a proper education. Therefore, they will be raised in abnormal manner and they will miss the protection and experience of a normal childhood. The United States comprises a high number of children who lives in abysmal poverty, this amount increased dramatically during the 1980s and continued high into the early 1990s.The percentage of children living in indigent families has been growing since about 1970s. In early childhood, children require health care, access of medical care, lack of freedom and a safe shelter to live in dignity and security. Some studies show that children get more affected by poverty than adults because they are still dependent on them as they are still growing and need guidance. They cannot sustain their needs by their own efforts since they are not independent and mature enough to do so. Kids also lack the power to face hindrances and understand bad circumstances; they suffer from deficiency of experiences and do not have the capability to overcome difficulties. As a result, children are easily affected by some the corrupt behaviors or actions including crime, violence or robbery, caused by lack of education and awareness. In addition, children are more exposed to malnutrition or the need of occupation by medical care or healthy foods, which makes them more likely to become the victims of diseases. There is a big debate that overlooks the transmission of this phenomenon in the society as a whole. Each case study concentrates on its central views or concepts. Some people argue that poverty and need lead to corruption and violence, whereas others argue that wealth and power can cause corruption due to exploitation. The first case study looks on the sexual behaviors of children, especially girls that are poor, such that they rely on many relationships with men in order to get easy money. These girls try to exploit their bodies to treat another issue which is poverty, thus creating another horrible one. They sell their bodies and ethics for money. Furthermore, some children depend on bribery or robbery to gain some bread, or they will be obliged in such acts to do greater crimes, such as murder and violence. In addition, some children are thrown in the streets to vend stuff or to hone expensive materials. Being thrown on the streets to beg leads children to do actions which are not honest or good to provide for themselves and their parents. Sometimes, they are obliged to do that under a strong authority or pressure from rich people because they don’t have the power to protect themselves. They are dependent on adults to take care of them. All of these unacceptable actions are caused by the inability of the government to ensure the peace and the security. It is unethical to deprive poor people of their rights which should be divided equally between all humans. The low income that poor people earn is not sufficient to fulfill family needs. On a different note, luxury drives rich people to live in comfort and pleasure. According to Durkheim, French social theorist, in his Suicide: A Study in Sociology, luxury is “too great comfort which turns a man against himself.” This explains that luxury is always related to injustice and discrimination. He explains that rich people have enough time and money to do a lot of sinful deeds; they do not have time to care for religion or to be faithful. In contrast, poverty prevents children to be corrupt because they don’t have enough money leading to bad behaviors .They consider that poverty prevents child to think about those attitudes and luxury is the main cause of corruption. If we have a lot of money, we can do what we want due to having time and options to do unethical comportments. Moreover, poor children cannot do everything they hope since they are limited to provide their needs. Depression is a large problem that inhibits indigent children to have such bad behavior, the lack of many necessities deprives a child to think unnecessary things to complete his or her life because people look primarily for the most basic needs. After that, they will look for the secondary ones. On the other hand, some rich children can depend on crimes to get money or they will be violent because of their greediness. They can be narcissistic, greedy, or envious. Even though they are able to satisfy all their basic needs, they keep wanting more because they’re no longer satisfied with what they have. In reality, humans should be aware whether they are rich or poor because social class does not determine ethical principles. However, faith is a unique concept that can decide which direction to follow. Money should not be the basis that controls our lives. No country is immune from corruption. Each one has the possibility to do corrupt things; money is not the final cause or determinant. In conclusion, Aristotle said, “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” Corruption resembles a scary evil that injuries sensible people’s hearts. Corruption is considered a key reason for poverty and it goes beyond a bribe paid or money stolen. In sum, we must have the will to end corruption by ending its major origin: poverty which exacerbates corruption.