What does it mean to be poor?

[EBHughsThe1st]

Now, this is not a last minute thing. I was given this assignment recently, and have enough time to do it fully.

So, anyway, I'm a high school student, currently a sophomore. And my history class this year is Humanities, a class based around aspect of humanity. Right now we are studying the subject of poverty.

So, at the end of the first quarter the teacher gave us a prompt for an art project due in December on the question "What does it mean to be poor."

So, being the aspiring filmmaker that I am, I wanted to do a film for it.

So, below, I just want in text or video form your definition of what it means to be poor. That's all the info. I'm not looking for answers. I'm just looking for the everyman's definition. And since most of the escapist is thoughtful and somewhat insightful, I came here.

So, please just answer it and I'll put you in the credits if I use your definition. If you want to be listed as something else, please put it in your answer as well.

I would really really appreciate this, guys.

 

[Tilted_Logic]

To have no desire or will to understand the universe around you, to cherish nothing but the popularity you attain, the money you have or the respect you earn. If you are blind to the world, then you are among the most pitiful of creatures.

That would be my semi-intelligent take on it, but if you mean in a very literal straight forward sense, I'd ramble on about having values/family/people to cherish making you truly wealthy.

Sorry, I'm tired and not clinking thearly...

 

[TehCookie]

To be poor is to not have enough money to fulfill basic needs, if you're looking at it from an absolute view. From a relative view it means you can't afford the luxuries everyone else can.

 

[JesterRaiin]

You're poor when you envy people you consider rich.

Here's the catch : it's not necessary about money.

 

[Henkie36]

You're poor when you don't have the means to sustain a humanized life. Like the guy above me said, not necesseraly just money, the world doesn't end here in the West.

 

[Kordie]

There are many ways to define "poor" in various aspects, financially, ethically, you could be "poor" in probably every aspect of life.

My general definition would be that a poor person, is one who cannot support themself and relies on others. Whether this means relying on a welfare system to eat, or having a poor confidence that results in depresion without constant outside approval, to a poor imagination where you need other people give you ideas and stories.

In my mind being poor is akin to not being self sustainable. I know, everyone is going to be poor in some areas and better in others, that is part of life. There is at somewhere a tipping point, where the areas in which you are poor affect the rest of your life, and that creates true poverty. Where no matter how smart you are, you cannot afford a house. Or when you have all the money you need but are morally bankrupt. Another example is a good looking, well off person, who cannot find any satisfaction in themself.

To get a more direct answer, you would need to clarify poor in what? In the end, the most direct definition of poor, would be "lacking".

 

[Erana]

Well, OP, we've given you some definitions on the idea of "Poor," but are there any ideas you're considering for illustrating the concept that you'd like to share with us for some input?

 

[Colour Scientist]

Poor and poverty are relative terms.

Someone who may be considered poor by one country's standards may be considered reasonably well-off in others.

Personally, I think poor is when you struggle to afford everyday necessities. By this I mean actual necessities like food, not internet or television.

 

[Shymer]

Poverty is a state of lacking in one or more of the basic human needs; recognising that humans have many needs - some more fundamental than others - and that poverty is often perceived as a relative imbalance in needs, rather than measurement against an absolute measure. cf Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Being poor is about a lack of choice and opportunity. There is an irony in you having the opportunity, during your education, to make a film about what it means to not have an education or opportunities.

I would look at someone in a state of poverty in the US and explore their relative poorness compared to, say, a wealthy college student, and then compare them to someone in a similar position in Somalia. That might pose more of a problem for the film - you may need to access footage from Internet sources.

 

[Blueruler182]

To not have a lot of money. That's something you can twist to be either a negative or positive film, I've known plenty of happy poor people, and we've all seen those miserable poor people.

 

[LucidGizmo]

---Warning, Incoming Text Wall---
This is somewhat of a complicate topic, as wealth is always relative to the lifestyle that you are in, versus the one you wish to be in. A good definition IMHO, is that you are poor if you have trouble maintaining the expenses for food, shelter, clothing, basic hygiene, and essential utilities (in the US, utilities are generally electricity and/or gas and water) If taking your monthly expenses into account verses what you made at your job(s), and that takes 90% or more, of your income, I would personally define that as "Extremely Poor" I have heard some people state that they are poor, or are not "Well-off" but I also know that they have no problem meeting their basic needs, and do not live "Paycheck to Paycheck" People often confuse need with want (this irks me to no end)

TL,DR version - if you have issues paying your bills without going into debt, you are probably poor

 

[EBHughsThe1st]

Well, OP, we've given you some definitions on the idea of "Poor," but are there any ideas you're considering for illustrating the concept that you'd like to share with us for some input?

Sure.

I'm going to cram a lot of mixed media into the project to illustrate the multiple definitions.

most of the project is just definitions from people who I plan to or have interviewed along with the voices online.

So, I'll look over the answers and concepts and create the illustrations.

Right now, I have only one planned.

A short machinima clip in Minecraft, where there are two players, one with nothing, and the other with a huge house. Simple demonstration on how poverty is relative.

But I'm not sure if taking any ideas is a good idea. Plagiarism and such.

 

[Quaidis]

Others have summed it up, I can add to it in detail.

Being in poverty is struggling to not being able to sustain everyday necessities that most other people take for granted. You need to go on a program to get food from the gov't, ie. food stamps or risk starvation. This does not cover soap, shampoo, teeth-cleaning utensils, brushes, toilet paper, or general hygienic materials - which you have to selectively get on your own when/if you can afford it. You need to get everything second-hand or through donation pools. You either have to shower in a public facility and/or are limited to one or two a week. You sew your clothes, and wear old and worn ones, instead of throwing them out and buying new ones; the same goes with shoes. Household electronics such as television, computer, game systems, etc, (things you may hold sacred now) are deemed no longer important and are subject to being sold to survive. Electricity and water are paid intermittently, sometimes you may not get them at all. Many times you can't pay for heating during the winter, and air conditioning during the summer is ludicrous. You struggle to pay rent, and constantly live in a fear of getting evicted. The list goes on.

In worse case poverty scenarios, you have to wait in a line to enter a shelter at night. Sometimes, if you aren't there on time, you get to sleep in the street or in an abandoned building (if you can find one). If you have a car, you may have to live in it for a while. You need to either eat from a fast food graveyard or visit soup kitchens. That or trash-dive. You are constantly cold, hungry, and desperate to get things back on track - which seems impossible most of the time as no one wants to hire or give money to a poor, smelly, starving homeless person. Pff, they're probably going to splurge their money on alcohol and drugs anyway. Go get a job, you homeless bastard.

Then there's what I like to call 'college poor'. That's sacrificing good food for ramen or rice, and not buying video-games new.


But I digress... It's your assignment. I'm sure others who have lived in such situations can further describe to you what it's like being poor.

 

[Azuaron]

Wow, I'm going to step away from the philosophical ramblings of the people who have never actually been poor (and thus have the luxury of saying "being poor" has to do with some metaphysical drive to be a better person [or whatever]) and tell you what it means to be poor.

Poor means your clothes don't have tags on them because they're homemade out of cheap fabric and/or old blankets and your shoes were found on the side of the road.

Poor means Mom gets scurvy (that's right, scurvy) because you can't afford enough fruit for everyone and she secretly doesn't eat any so the kids have enough.

Poor means your home's in a bad part of town and you hear gunshots at night. Sometimes it's broken into and you lose your savings to druggies.

Poor means your truck broke down on the way to a job, and you can't afford a tow, a taxi, or the bus. The job disappears when you don't show up or call (no cell phones!), and you have to walk home. Depending on how far home is, you might spend a night on a park bench or under a bridge.

Poor means using foodstamps while Republicans look down on you and mutter, "Freeloader," while Democrats stare in pity.

Poor means eating everything (and I mean everything) you're given; not to be polite or because you're hungry or because you like the food, but because it's calories, and you don't know if you'll be getting any more soon.

Poor means the electricity gets shut off this month and you borrow someone's camp stove to cook dinner.

And let's be clear about this: I wasn't even that poor (at least we had a home), and I wasn't poor in a place that's that bad (America). If I was poor in Cambodia, I'd probably have died from impure water before I was five or sold into prostitution when I was 10 (and I'm a guy), and I'd never have gone to college and become not poor.

But when people who grew up comfortably say that being poor is about not having enough friends and Ebenezer Scrooge was poorer than Tiny Tim, I want to strip them of all their possessions, break their collar bone (good luck getting the surgery to fix that!), and drop them in the middle of Detroit. I guarantee the priority will be food, water, shelter, and an arm sling and not friends.

And have fun using the internet in ten minute intervals at the library.

(No, when you're poor, the only friends you're going to be able to make are also going to be poor, so they will not be lending/giving you money/food. In fact, many of them will be perfectly willing to rip you off. Pot heads and cocaine addicts are typically as okay as anyone else; heroin addicts will steal from you, but that's probably it; but meth heads and crack junkies will kill you for a bowl of soup and alcoholics will kill you if you're "in their way" or you "look at them funny.")

 

[ReincarnatedFTP]

To be a person with the inability to access:
Food
Shelter
Healthcare
Education
All of which should (to some degree, not necessarily completely) be universal and provided by the government in a modern first world developed democracy.

 

[Knusper]

To paraphrase the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, poverty is being in the state where you cannot enjoy the benefits or privileges inherent in a civilized society.

 

[Leon Last Lord Shyle]

Speaking as someone who is poor it means not being able to afford heating in the middle of winter, but your parent always managing to find the money to smoke and get hammered, its not being able to eat properly because you can only afford the most shit food.

 

[Yopaz]

Being an independent filmmaker means being poor.

Seriously. Being poor means you lack the resources to get the necessities of a household.
Having to choose between food and clothes. Not being able to keep the house warm, Having to pawn your belongings to make ends meet.

 

[SidingWithTheEnemy]

Taking Binary-Logic into account:
Being poor is the opposite of being rich.

Taking the U.N. defintion into account it's defined by the poverty threshold

Taking myself into account:
Feeling poor is based entirely on my psychological well being.
There are days where I feel depressed and suddenly everybody else has more wealth than me.
Then there are other days where I feel elated and everybody else is just some pityful poor old bastard