The Meaning of Poverty: Suga and Wata

 Poverty is known to be a ‘crime to society.’ People spend most of their lives attempting to get out of poverty only for the majority of their off-spring to fall back in. However, there is a benefit to growing up poor and around others who are poor. Life begins to have more meaning. A meaningful life gives a sense of purpose and self-worth whether it be through helping others or taking on religious beliefs. To be poor doesn’t mean to be sad or in constant search of an escape-- though it would be nice to have money on the go. To be poor just means to not have the means to continuously provide for yourself and loved ones, but there is no inevitable sadness that will creep up on you and snatch your peace of mind right from under you. Poor people tend to live more meaningful lives because they are focused on the relationships and the memories they form.

When one is in a situation where they have nothing, they become more dependent on the people around them. The friends I have made in my home country, no matter how much we fight, always had my back and I fully believe this is because we had similar struggles. We would not only share our lunches but our experiences and a triumph for one was a triumph for all. We made jokes about our situations and smiled at our disadvantages. The beautiful island of Jamaica, where I am from, is known to have very jovial people mainly because of these similar financial struggles. In my old community vendors would allow people, including my family, to trust food and items with no assurance that they would get paid. It wasn’t that these vendors were gullible but that they understood the fight everyone had to endure. Adam Alter, a New York University teacher, explains it best as "some of the most rewarding life experiences are popular because they favor meaningful hardship over simple pleasure."Communities like mine are very common, among poor neighborhoods. It is a close knit family and children roam the streets freely because parents know they will be looked after and people stay on the outside of their homes for hours just to converse. We become dependent on those in the community and find pleasure in their constant company which lessens the weight each individual has to carry. 

With all these financial issues, we add purpose and hope to our lives by believing in something larger than ourselves. Religion becomes the main push for endurance and it gives life meaning. Adam Alter further shares a story of a conversation between Jonathan Safran Foer, an American novelist, and his grandmother stating how the grandmother explained that there was a time she had not eaten for days and was offered meat by a gentleman, but she refused to eat it. When asked why she simply states, it was pork which meant it wasn’t kosher and if nothing matters, there’s nothing to save, not even her life . Her religious beliefs were far more important than her need to eat and many poor people live by this. Having a belief allows one to have some form of consistency even when everything else is unstable. 

With stability being up in the air, small moments have to be more appreciated. Poor people live more in the moment allowing most memories to be associated with joy. I remember having to drink sugar and water before I went to bed because we had nothing else in the house, however sugar and water became one of my favorite drinks and I still love it today, though I don’t drink it as often.  

Most people who have not faced real hardships become greedy and believe everything should be handed to them. They are easily aggravated by small setbacks instead of seeing it as an opportunity for growth. 

When you are poor, you are grateful for every little thing and appreciate all those things twice as much. Paul Piff, an assistant professor at the University of California, mentioned in Susan Scutti’s article, stated that “The emotions that contribute most to a sense of well-being and actual health are the emotions that bind you to other people: compassion, love and gratitude.” Appreciation of all life has to offer. There is no joy without pain. One can not understand true meaning without experiencing real hardships because then there will be no value behind the emotion. Reaching a goal is more memorable when you fell and got back up in the process.

Work Consulted 

Alter, Adam. “Do the Poor Have More Meaningful Lives?” The New Yorker, newyorker.com, 24 January 2014. newyorker.com/business/currency/do-the-poor-have-more-meaningful-lives. Accessed 20 April 2022. 

Scutti, Susan. “More money can mean Scrooge-like pride, study says.” CNN Health, cnn.com, 28 February 2018. cnn.com/2017/12/18/health/poor-rich-happiness-study/index.html. Accessed 20 April 2022.