I think that telling a poor person who has worked hard all their life that poverty is a state of mind is like a man telling a mother that the pain of childbirth is a state of mind.
You obviously need money to make money.
State of mind does not give economic capital.
Enabling environment, progressive government policies, circumstances of birth can give the economic capital that gets people out of poverty.
Most poor people lack the above and it hurts.
It is foolishness for poor people to burden themselves and die with the pain of believing that poverty is a state of mind.
It is nothing but a blame the victim strategy of the rich to make themselves feel they worked hard enough to escape poverty while the poor are lazy.
Too many circumstances beyond a person's control could make them poor and force them to remain poor.
If poverty is a state of mind, why do government always campaign with pulling people out of poverty but never talks about the welfare of their minds?
People have gone through poorly funded schools by dint of hard work & good grades but ended up jobless... Lots of such cases in Nigeria.
No social contact or economic capital to lift them out of poverty.
It's an insult to tell them that their poverty is a state of their minds.
There is hunger, homelessness, joblessness & insecurity...
Poor healthcare & education...
Judiciary ceased to be the last hope of the common man...
Forget getting out of poverty.
The fault lies squarely on the government; not on the notion that poverty is a state of mind.
It's takes capital to study courses that comparatively ensure good salary in the labour market.
It takes capital to bribe to get good paying jobs.
The poor people who can't afford the capital cannot change the odds with any state of mind.
They need scholarships.
Social contact matters. Know powerful & prominent people? Contracts & money usually follow.
Who points a poor person to banks to get loans or contract awarding institutions?
Can state of mind give you recommendations letters?
Weaponised hunger is used to keep the poor poor.
If you work through the odds & by stroke of luck, you become rich, we will thank God for your life.
But before you tell the poor ones that poverty is a state of mind, remember that there are people who are smarter & more hardworking than you who didn't make it out of poverty.
If you have never known poverty all your life, what do you know about the state of mind of the poor people that makes you think they enjoy watching their families go hungry, their children out of school, loved ones dying in their arms because they can't afford medical bills?
Poverty is not a state of mind.
It's a circle you can break out of if you work hard, stay focused and the grace of God showers on you.
And yes! Some people did next to nothing to break out of poverty.
Some never gave a thought to being rich but they left poverty behind.
My name is Emeka Amakeze.
