Poverty is a state of mind. I read this quote from a Senator recently. It's his justification for taking away services from impoverished people. He wants them to understand that all they have to do is change their outlook. Once they put their mind into abundance, their situation will improve. In simply telling people the way to view life, everything will be okay.
Whoa! Stop and hold them horses. That doesn't work. People need first to be in a place in which their basic needs are being met, before they can learn about change through thoughts. When a person is figuring out how to feed their children, they're not reading gourmet cookbooks. Impractical, callous advice.
Hiding behind a philosophy is one way to justify becoming a full head in the ground ostrich. Another is to feed the hungry with vague, indirect charities that focus on feeling good over substance.
At a business recently, several teenage girls came in, singing heavenly sweet music. Then came the request for charity money. Most everyone in the place gave freely. Nice, huh?
Except they gave without knowing where the money was going. Were the girls legitimate? Was the charity was even real? When I read the cheap, plastic coated brochure, the charity was for poor people in the Philippines. My usual rose-colored glasses shattered with the doubt that the money ever wound up in the hands of the needy.
Who wants to face the poverty in our cities, neighborhoods, and outside our homes and workplace? Yuch. Poverty is ugly. It's prettier to only see what goes on in other countries.
Another fun escape is to 'know' that homeless want to live in streets, that there are plenty of livable wage jobs oozing to hire anyone with a body, and that everyone knows how to get them. I mean, if I could do it, why not them?
There is some truth to all of that. But it's on a case by case basis. Humans are complicated. Reasons for poverty are different for each person.
All this I say with the full recognition that I do little to help, as well. I've been lazy. Waiting and watching others do the work while I live my blessed life.
But I'm changing. Spurred by a greedy, anti Robin Hood administration, I'm volunteering, calling Senators, offering what I can. And this desire to do more is spreading.
From the ground up, individuals, groups and local governments have been taking up the slack. As most of us have never experienced before, lazy comfort has eroded. In it's place, activism has spread. Groups, coalitions, committees, fresh voices--all over the world, people have been taking matters into their own hands. There is positive coming out of the negative mudslingers from above.
We're also seeing and experiencing appreciation for what we had and have. Is this new appreciation because we finally recognize how good we've had it? Because we are witnessing five million refugees being torn from what they had? Probably a mixture.
Either way, we're waking up with a start, yelling, "Thank you for the blessings in my life! Now I want to go out and preserve it."
Our world is increasing in vibration. Love is pouring out like never before. In order for us all to benefit, we need to have basic living needs taken care of. Then we can teach about States of Mind, Positive Thinking, Law of Attraction. It is from there that the world will be more fruitful.
Every person has something to give. But when held back trying to figure out how to survive, contributions won't be given.
How are you handling our changing world? Comment below. Don't be an ostrich.
Oh, and if the world can increase it's vibration, then elephants dating giraffes makes perfect sense:
When the essentials are covered, let the mindful lessons begin.
Dolphin Divine,
Appreciating Abundance
