Poverty: Start with Open Eyes

When confronted with the “mistake” of not donating money to the poor, Jesus said “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” [passage]

This doesn’t mean that we ignore those in need but that in the end there will always be some people who are at the low end of the income spectrum. The first step towards progress is taking an honest look at the problems that are affecting our poor.

Life at the Bottom by Theodore Dalrymple is exactly that honest look. Step two is an environment where citizens have freedom to invent and experiment; opportunities to invest themselves to a trade. Government handouts don’t encourage change. Before Christ, a Chinese proverb held wisdom by “teaching a man to fish.”