For the many people who are lucky enough to never have had to choose between food or clothes, between clothes or a roof over your head, or even between medication and food- poverty is sometimes a very uncomfortable subject to contemplate.  People avert their eyes from panhandlers on the street; clearing the homeless from the streets (or at least from view) is always seen as an urban improvement; outside of cities people often forget that poverty is not just a city problem.  

The truth is people are struggling to make ends meet all across the country.  There are some places in the United States where poverty is obvious, in-your-face and hard to ignore.  In other places, though, it’s hidden away, secret and you may not even realize it’s there.

Something a lot people forget is that nobody chooses poverty.  People may make poor decisions that send them into poverty; some are born into it; while others, through some unfortunate twist of fate, find themselves struggling each day to barely survive.  Unless you know for sure the circumstances that a person has gone through, it is unfair to make judgments.  What people who are currently experiencing poverty or homelessness need most is not criticism but compassion- help and support while they pull themselves back on their feet. 

If you and your family are struggling or have ever been struggling you know better than anyone else how hard it can be to break free of the poverty cycle.  The most difficult part can be keeping up hope and optimism.  It’s important to remember that, even during the worst of times, you are not alone.  As frustrating as the system can be and as hard as it might be to find them- there are plenty of people out there willing to lend a hand. 

The tough part of poverty as an issue for us all to confront is that there is no one, single, root cause.  Unemployment rates, drugs, educational opportunities, health care costs, and discrimination all play large parts in the poverty rates.  You may think those problems all sound way above your head- “I can’t fix that!” but the truth is, one person can make a huge difference.  When you reach out through charity or volunteer work or even just through awareness you can make the lives of individual people a little more comfortable, a little healthier and maybe even offer them a little more hope for the future.