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In line with Nelson Mandela’s sad reality quote that says”Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings”, without any hesitation as a youth raised in one of the poorest countries in the world, I believe poverty is a function mindset. Sometimes, we don’t need to blame God for having created the tiger, we need to thank Him for not giving it wings.
Should you be sleeping and think that you or your kids will be fed just because you fervently pray? No, you have to make some leg work by engaging in something that brings dividends rather than sleeping or sitting aimlessly. Oh yes! there is God who created you and the same God created the birds, but He never sends food to their nests. This simply means that there is no food for a lazy man. I still can’t understand that firm conviction that one’s level of submission to God brings one’s food; hahaha! He (God) gives way where there is a will. My dear reader, don’t you also think that if it were for prayers, religious leaders would have been the richest? Sounds interesting though!
To be poor is like to be punished for a crime you didn’t commit. In this piece, however, poverty should not be misinterpreted as pride or egocentricity, but a condition characterized by deprivation of basic needs and services.
Most people are poor not because of poor heritage, but because of their individual thoughts (mindset). The fight against Sustainable Development Goal 1 (NO POVERTY/END POVERTY) yields nothing if our cognitive apprehension is not transformed into a belief that ‘we can if others could’. Until the notion that ‘money comes by chance’ is changed, poverty still remains.
Specifically, the continent we live in, the poor continuously become poorer and the rich become richer. This is due to the fact that the former surrender their ability to work hard, and thus see themselves as helpless and hopeless. But honestly speaking, most of these poor people are not destined to be in such a state if they had tried to avoid such a defeatist and lazy mindset.
You might not have everything, and your shoes might be broken but if your mind is a palace then, you’re a rich person. Our failure to prioritize the most pressing needs but focusing on unnecessary pleasures subconsciously sabotages our own wealth creation which we often think is a magic thing happening to us. As Mandela asserted, poverty is created.
