October 17th: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

But hey, it's not like there are actually any really poor people in North America or, if they do exist:

...(as we saw in Katrina) today's so-called poor, with their dependent/entitlement/victim mentality, are a threat to national security.

This coming from a so-called "Catholic" woman who lived on government disability benefits for 4 years for one of the illnesses I have: lupus. Ah but she's different, you see. If she was "poor" then, it's because she had a legitimate illness/reason which, according to her, no one else who's poor really does. On top of that:

In one of the most compelling essays in the book, she describes the frustration she felt while waiting for her first disability interview at a Family Benefits office in Toronto. “I hated that office,” she writes. “And as ashamed as I am to admit it, most of all I hated the shabby, beaten-down clients.... When my interview was over, I hoped for a sudden deus ex machina, a lightning-flash vision that would reveal, through my tears, Christ in the faces of the frozen, unblinking clients I was leaving behind. But instead of God’s voice, the only sound was the scratchy bellow of another client’s name being mispronounced over the loudspeaker.”

Now, I'm sure I don't need to get into a deep theological or psychological discussion here about how those clients were mirror images of herself - thus reflecting her own shame about being poor, sick and needy- but when someone like Shaidle (and she is hardly alone) rides with that self-hatred to the point where she can't even admit that poor people exist (and I urge you to read that first linked post to get into the mind of that right-wing "Christian" who would make Jesus* cringe), it's not hard to understand why there is still so much poverty on a global scale because the first step to eradicating it is for people to actually care about the poor. You won't do that if you're busy hating them and yourself while standing on your mile-high pulpit of self-righteousness. No wonder we're hardly getting anywhere.

Anyway, for more information about the significance of this day, visit the official UN site. You can also review the UN's Millennium Development Goals for the eradication of poverty and a September, 2007 update here.

For information about what's going on in my neck of the woods - Calgary, check out the Poverty Reduction Coalition.

Poverty is about a lack of opportunities and viable choices. That can change and we can all help - even those of us who are currently poor as well.

* If "Jesus" existed

Related:

Wars in Africa wipe out aid gains
Make Poverty History (Canada)
(UK) PM 'abandoned' child poverty pledge
Keep tax cuts, end 'disgrace' of poverty, union rally tells Harper
3 million expected to ‘Stand Up, Speak Out’ against poverty (Philippines)
More than one in 10 Aussies 'in poverty'
Father of microloans sees end to poverty
'1.3bn People Live Below Poverty Line'
Other bloggers writing about this day.