When Helping Hurts - Chapter 2: What's the Problem?

WHEN HELPING HURTS

CHAPTER 2: WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

THE POOR SPEAK OUT ON POVERTY



Following their convention, in the Initial Thoughts box beginning this chapter the authors pose the question: What is poverty? They ask for a list of words that come to mind when we think of poverty. Here are mine – vulnerability, exploitation, bad choices, cyclical behavior, character, magical thinking.


In this chapter, the authors challenge us to think about our own perceptions of poverty, and the poor, and introduce their analysis of the core causes of poverty. They discuss some common descriptions of poverty, and note that lack of economic security is often the manifestation of symptoms, rather than the ailment itself. Their main theme begins on page 54 below the heading Poverty: A Biblical Framework. Here, they list four categories of relationship important in everyone’s life – Relationship with God; Relationship with Self; Relationship with Others; and Relationship with the rest of creation. Their theory is that poverty exists because of distortions in these relationships, and that curing those distortions is the key to alleviating the resulting poverty. Thus, the mere delivery of economic aid or food aid, or other forms of relief, albeit well meaning, is ineffective as a strategy for truly helping the poor escape poverty.


Given the statistics from 50 years of our own War on Poverty programs, it’s hard to deny that simply feeding and clothing the poor is not enough to permanently change their lot. In 1962, Michael Harrington published a comprehensive study of poverty in America titled The Other America. The book caused a sensation in the media and played a significant role in the poverty legislation of the ‘60’s and the ensuing War on Poverty. Tellingly, the author cited statistics supporting the proposition that between 16% and 36% of the population were in the “low-income” category, meaning that the bottom 16% fell below the poverty level, roughly the same statistical measure as today’s poor in this country. I don’ t have the figures on total expenditures on anti-poverty programs, but it’s fair to say we have spent hundreds of billions, perhaps trillions, on programs intended to end poverty without statistically significant improvement. Undoubtedly, the poor of today are materially better off than their counterparts in the ‘60’s, but relative to the mainstream, they continue to struggle.


In sympathy with our authors in this chapter, here is a quote from The Other America, “……. America is becoming increasingly populated by those who do not belong to anybody or anything. They are no longer participants in an ethnic culture from the old country; they are less and less religious; they do not belong to unions or clubs. They are not seen, and because of that they themselves cannot see. Their horizon has become more and more restricted; they see one another, and that means they see little reason to hope.” (Page 18) Doesn’t that sound like the four relationships described in this chapter? Perhaps Corbett and Fikkert can better foresee the winning formula than our leaders of the past. We shall see.


One significant difference between our book and The Other America is its attempt to embrace worldwide poverty rather than focus only on America. While I agree that Christians should be as concerned about poverty in Africa as they are the problems in America, I will direct my comments only toward American issues as I have little understanding of issues of poverty in other countries. In that spirit, bear with me as I expound on the poverty words the authors asked me to think of at the beginning – vulnerability, exploitation, bad choices, cyclical behavior, character, magical thinking.


The poor are vulnerable because: they lack education; they lack mainstream social skills; they lack confidence. The good news is that all of these weaknesses can be strengthened. We’ve all known folks – indeed some of us are those folks – who came from economically depressed circumstances and moved up the ladder by gaining these strengths. That’s not to pat anyone on the back, or deny the difficulties confronting the poor in their efforts, but it is to say that earnest dedication and hard work are required – often over multiple generations. It seems to me it’s the long term nature of these improvements and the requirement of a dedicated support structure that make them so daunting to the poor.


It also seems to me that blatant exploitation of the poor by the mainstream has become a very small element in the equation (with the notable exception of state lotteries). Instead, the poor seem to eagerly and aggressively exploit and victimize one another. The reasons range from economic to psychological, but the solution resides firmly in the realm of character. Here, Jesus has a lot to teach us.


The poor are notorious for making bad choices, but those may be more of a symptom or manifestation of their vulnerability and lack of character skills than a weakness. After all, when presented with a choice that could lead to bad consequences, one must have both the insight and the character to avoid disaster.


By cyclical behavior I mean adopting a poverty lifestyle that repeats itself from generation to generation – young women who marry or become mothers too young; young men who drop out of school to work – behaviors that make it even more difficult to escape poverty. And, by magical thinking I mean decisions based on hope, no matter how desperate or how unlikely, that further impair their progress (like playing the lottery).


It occurs to me that our efforts to help the poor, especially the War on Poverty, suffer from the same weaknesses as the population they intend to assist. We are not educated in effective ways to help; our assumptions are based on bad choices and magical thinking about their effectiveness; our programs are subject to corruption and exploitation by administrators and recipients, alike; our efforts may be called by different names, but they are all re-cycled from earlier programs.


As we read this book, I hope the authors will lead us along a different path – one with a fresh approach and fewer weaknesses. I’m willing to follow them through their application of the four relationship model. Let’s see where they take us.



Peace.