Topic > Poverty and related prejudices

Poverty is a very common social problem that affects millions of people around the world. No matter your income, unemployment or not, there will always be people who are homeless or hungry. Despite living in one of the richest countries in the world, the United States still struggles with poverty. Even today, people struggle to find shelter, feed themselves and their families, clothe themselves and have a roof over their heads. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There are several social problems related to poverty. Many of which will have different impacts on different institutions and individuals. Now when it comes to poverty many personal prejudices come into play. Personally, my three main biases when talking about poverty are: poor people are lazy, even with high levels of poverty, no one dies of hunger, and young children living in poverty do not do well in school. While writing this essay and doing some research I found a couple of things that disproved my prejudices. When it comes to poor and lazy people I have always had this thought in the back of my head. Ever since I was young I remember seeing homeless men and women standing on the sides of the streets holding signs asking for money or food. I always thought to myself oh, they're just doing this because they're lazy and don't want to look for a job. Now that I'm older I've become more understanding I guess and thought what if maybe they just couldn't work or find work. And after studying that is exactly what it is. Many poor people are too young or old to work, or suffer from disabilities. It's not that they don't want to work, they're not able to. I also found that just because someone lives in poverty dissent means everyone gets help from the government with food stamps or charitable donations. Many are barely surviving, and when an unexpected bill or random illness looms, they sometimes run out of money for food. And there are people out there starving, whether we know it or not. This information reinforced what I already believed. I knew America wasn't as great as it should be. Our system is not only shaped in these ways that appear to skew race, but are also distinct from poverty. We have a justice system in this country that treats you much better if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent. Wealth, not guilt, determines outcomes. Yet we are fine and comfortable. Many really don't like talking about their story. And because of that, we don't really understand what it means to do these things historically. It seems like we don't really care about the hard stuff. We love our technology and entertainment, but they overshadow suffering, abuse, and degradation. All in all, everything is hidden behind truth and reconciliation, and we must think of the poor and integrate them into our lives.