Work In Progress 2: Unifinished business
Francis X. (Aged 46, lawyer)
"My response is as follows:
1. A lack of quality moments in life (moments of connection, gratitude, love and joy - especially when being of service). 2. Plenty of quality moments. 3. Being spiritually lost; out of touch with their hearts and the inner guide/voice of God. People are struck by poverty when they deny their heart and lose their way to themselves. One sure sign of this is boredom. So one ends up being poor in the midst of material plenty."
Also a student & practitioner of Ayurveda (Science of the Spirit) and Anthroposophy (Spiritual Science) since early 1990s. And full-time Volunteer for Nature since 1994."
"My idea of Poverty :
There are two kinds of Poverty. ONE is the obvious poverty of not having the basics of living.
The Basics (traditionally) are: Food, Shelter and Clothing.
In today’s urban societies, I would define the basics as having --
a) Enough money to buy raw food that one can prepare oneself at home for breakfast and dinner. And sufficient money to buy oneself a meal at a hawker centre. Also sufficient money for public transport (bus, mass rapid transport).
b) A place to live that is the equivalent in comfort to a 2 room HDB (Housing Development Board) flat for one to two persons and a 3 room HDB for a family.
c) Clothing: I think that even the poorest among us now have more clothes than they need. However, in temperate countries where temperatures plunge in winter, the poor do not have sufficient warm clothing – especially if they cannot afford heating or are living on the streets.
Every one, in any society, deserves to have their basic needs met.
TWO – The second type of Poverty (which is much more commonplace in ruthlessly capitalistic meritocratic societies like Singapore) is what I would call a ‘Poverty MINDSET’.
This is a mindset that believes that one never has enough. If one owns a 5 room HDB, then one aspires to own a private condominium with swimming pool . For the condo dweller, he/she aspires to upgrade to a bungalow in an ‘exclusive’ district or to own two condos etc etc…
People with ‘poverty mindsets’ are continuously envying others and striving to have more money; to have bigger, better, fancier, more exclusive cars, homes, club memberships, credit cards, jewellery etc.
Their children have to be smarter, go to more exclusive kindergartens/schools/colleges etc…they aspire to holiday in far-away exclusive resorts…
Such people are morally and spiritually bankrupt…and they gravitate like sheep to evangelical religious leaders who preach what is now called ‘Prosperity Gospel’ ….so SAD!
The award-winning movie – Singapore Dreaming captures the collective ‘yearnings’ of 90+% of Singaporeans, all caught in this ‘poverty mindtrap’ .
My Idea of Abundance –
Ah, abundance is Contentment with one’s lot in life…
One may be materially ‘poor’ by the standards of those with a ‘poverty mindset', but the person who is at Peace with himself/herself, who finds purpose and fulfillment in what he/she does everyday, who has little material ‘desires’ and has many friends (and no enemies) and has a big happy family and who is thankful and feels Blessed by the Universe (or God) …that person lives a life of ‘abundance.’
* I have far less than my peers who are all graduates and retired much later than I. (I own no house, no car) as I became economically ‘unproductive' since 1994 when I went to live in Darwin [Australia] with my husband Richard. I was in my late 40s. However, I feel blessed with abundance (good health since I turned vegetarian in 1995/96 and started daily qigong, and now Homa Therapy) and have just applied to live in Malaysia [where she sometimes resides], building an eco-cottage in Tanjung Sutera family resort and creating an eco food garden there and putting in eco technologies. I am putting my money into leasing land and buying seeds and planting and teaching all to 'Balik Kampung' for natural drug-free health and happiness.
Why are People Poor?/Why is there Poverty?
If you ask the PAP (People's Action Party) government they will assert that the ‘poor’ in Singapore are only a handful and public assistance is there to help them. I totally disagree as there are many (I do not know the numbers, various NGO aid agencies may be able to help, I have lost touch although I was the founding vice chairperson of The Breadline Group in 1976 when I was a journalist – but I know from the current chairperson that the numbers of poor, sick, destitute applying for Breadline group ‘financial aid’ in addition to public assistance is on the up and up).
Morever, since I returned to live in Singapore (after my Australian husband unexpectedly passed away in 2004) and decided that for various reasons: a) going green & walking my talk b) I would have to return to ‘work’ to support my ‘car’,
I have been using buses, MRT and taxis and talk to people in buses and taxi drivers.
I learned for example from Aida, a Malay woman whom I started a conversation with on a bus, that she is a toilet cleaner. I was so surprised that this slim, neatly dressed woman who spoke such good English should be cleaning toilets (for a police station).
“I thought you were a librarian," I said. Curious, I asked her age and she answered, “Well I am 50+”
“But what did you do when you were younger," I asked.
“Well, I was a salesgirl for a cosmetic company,” and she shared that she used to earn “$1,300/-+ in those days, 30 years ago which was big money to a young single girl” but Aida now earns $700.
So, with an ever-growing younger and better educated workforce, plus the continuous ‘flooding-in’ of foreign workers (who can afford to the lower pay because their other living expenses are met by their employer, even if they have to cramp four to a room) the Aidas of our society, with their families to feed, will just get poorer and poorer.
Take the case of the poor Malay man who was crushed to death by the boom of the tree-pruning truck just a week ago. His death revealed that this 50 year-old Singaporean was earning only about $300/- a month and supporting a wife and four young men/boys (one on dialysis, another in hospital for depression and a third a slow learner). IF this poor man had not died, would we have known of the family’s plight ?
He and Aida would just be mere negligible statistics in our GDP or GNP records.
Now, why is there a rampant Poverty Mindset in Singapore, even among those who, by the homes they live in, cars they drive should be happily enjoying a comfortable middle-class lifestyle?
This is because in a Consumer-driven, competitively ruthless Capitalist society that we have become over the past 30 years. People at all levels feel driven (almost a mass neurosis, amounting to hysteria when their child can’t get into a particular school) to have more and more and more of everything – to buy and buy, to spend and spend, to show and show-off….
The Core Values that are being promoted: Greed is Good, it makes us competitive (better than our neighbour next door, better than our neighbouring countries), a shallow consumer-driven culture of Eating and Shopping only reveals how pathetic a society we have become…how impoverished we have become in the things that really matter – and that is a life well and truly lived not for Self and narrow nationalistic bounderies but seeing All as ONE on Mother Earth, one with all…..the animals, plants, insects, even minerals."
Jayne Tang (In her 30s, dancer):
"1. What is your idea of poverty?
-
My idea of poverty is when one is constantly in fear of --"Not Having Enough"....no matter how much they have or being blessed with.
-
Do not live consciously enough to be feeling blessed and being in joy of WHAT IS...e.g. Addicted to making money for the wrong reasons.
-
Afraid of tossing out old ideas, stuff, things, concepts, belief systems or things or even people/loved ones that were non-supportive anymore....(so mostly become a hoarder of life...with anything they can find or be attached to....always fearing of loosing something to someone or situation/circumstances...).
-
Afraid of success...cannot handle the pressure/challenges of what Successes will take...(as success brings chaos and changes...)
2. What is your idea of abundance?
-
Knowing with deep trust that we are always being provided and blessed no-matter-what the situation of our life looks like....
-
Living life without guilt and regrets...and feeling the fullness of what life can give us...
-
Every situation, person, things or circumstances is/are, a gift /opportunity to transform our life for higher growth & expansion...in manifesting abundance emotionally, mentally and physically....
-
Feeling blessed with most things in our life and staying in joyfulness as much as possible no matter what...that's abundance!! Cause it is all there is...it's how our perspectives of seeing in things with light & colour of abundance...like the Beautiful Sky that gives us protection from the Sun, the Trees that gives us shade...the River that flows to irrigate plants and animals to drink from it...
-
Good peers, friends and associates that care for us and are always there for us, when we need them...
-
Above all else, we all have abundance within us...like love, joy, peace and blissfulness....
-
Why are people poor/why is there poverty?
-
Because we are afraid of deserving and being WHO WE REALLY ARE, in-terms of receiving the best of best, could be the old conditioning of our poverty consciousness from many many many generations, where our Great GrandParents/GrandParents/Parents are afraid of "Not Having Enough" or "Success"...
-
It is our subconscious mind that is fearful of handling great wealth, success, great health, beauty...that we are all conditioned to take a hard way/suffering methods to achieve and receive...so we spin in a circle of poverty.
-
It's our individual or collective fear that if one gets rich, another will be poor...so we rather stick to being poor mentally and that no one gets rich at all (have self sabotage all the time, in pulling ourselves down, so that we don't have to shine through or be brilliant as who we really are meant to be as in 'bigger' or wealthier, it's the FEAR OF SUCCESS that is keeping people poor...therefore there is poverty. It's also a reflection of a big part of us that we are still wanting poverty as a comfort zone in this world...or a very familiar space that has been around for eons. Whereas wealth & richness is unfamiliar and causes discomfort.)...or the deep jealousy of the rich, that the poor rather stay poor. (There are many root causes to the poverty mentality, but mainly the FEAR OF SUCCESS is the biggest culprit).
-
Then of course, there is the other side of the story, where the Rich also keep taking advantage of the poor where they have less power to counter-react in time & space...so there is an enormous amount of imbalance or 'victimisation' of the poor where the resentment builds up over time and blows up into violence or warfare. Then the injustice comes also where the poor will keep justifying their poverty situation and calling up for help."
Ong Wooi-Hsen (Aged 43, lecturer):
"1. What is your idea of poverty?
Most people might look at this strictly from the material plane only and I believe that for some, it might be a real bread and butter issue or what Don William's might call 'the rising costs of getting by'. It is however interesting to note from two previous reports in The Straits Times in separate articles over the past three years or so when the 'happiness index' of peoples of the world is measured. It appears that North East Thailand and Bhutan have the happiest people in the world. I suspect that their isolation and the fact that they have less access to the modern material culture saves them (to some extent) the 'unlimited wants' of the modern economic man.
I'd like to extend the definition of 'poverty' to include any resource that limits a person's development in his community. Outside of spirituality in the religious context, this could include values like 'diligence', 'responsibility', 'respect', 'love' etc. Poverty could also be in the lack of skills that will disenable a person to perform effectively as a contributing member of his community.
2. What is your idea of abundance?Abundance to me means the wealth of resouces available to an individual as he lives his life. It does not merely refer to the material wealth that some are born with or acquire. This is because material possessions and the need to acquire them is closely related to our needs and wants. Hunters and gatherers have traditionally been called 'the original affluent societies' as all the means to their access for their needs are available around them with each adult tribal member being quite self-sufficient in acquiring his needs. During times of famine, tribes break up into smaller teams or even individually to forage over larger areas to enhance the carrying capacity of the land.
The modern economic man is a victim of the division of labour in a largely artificial built-up environment. Our survival is much dependent now on school certificates, the ability to make money in a good job to enjoy the creature comforts and products created by another group of people. It is a potentially risky situation as we cannot find or manufacture these products on our own. Any breakdown in the system means the deprivation of access to that product which is deemed increasingly not a want but a need (e.g. electrionic goods).
3. Why are people poor/why is there poverty? At the strictly material level, this is the result of an unfavourable distribution of resources. Many rich nations would rather destroy their bountiful output (to keep prices competitive) than to send over the extra agricultural output to poorer nations. This makes good economic sense but it means others will be deprived and they will starve to death. There are theories that suggest that for survival of the species, we should not help the starving millions. They are just not meant to survive. Helping them survive means making a local problem become a regional and global one.
Another school of thought (backed by some formulae) suggests pessimistically that the carryiing capacity of the earth was exceeded in 1985 which means that we are living on borrowed time (as a species).
At the non-material level, poverty is a perceived notion. Henry Thoreau's experience at Walden suggests that man can subsist on quite minimal resources. While I am not promoting the extreme experience of Thoreau, I believe that Toffler's 'throw-away society' is very much a way of life for most people living in an urban environment. We can certainly consume less and generate less waste.
Sometimes, we live in poverty because we get caught up in the material culture. Sadly, we often forget that we have a choice between having a $500 wallet with $5 inside and having a $5 wallet with $500 inside. It is our human condition that we must examine our lives and acquire skills and values that will contribute in some way to meaning in our lives. Otherwise, we remain trapped in our material as well as non-material prison.
Personally, I live well. I have almost everything that I want and I continue to upgrade my life in material and non-material ways. I am mindful not to generate waste. I recycle and make use of what other people throw away (quite tastefully, I've been told). More affluent peers have asked how I manage in real surprise and I am lost for an answer. I have always thought that I was almost thriving in this urban jungle. I speak with everyone (rich or poor, powerful or desperate) as everyone has their story like I have mine. I work hard to acquire skills to be an effective contributing member of my community. As a gardener, I understand delayed gratification in that it takes time to enjoy the fruits of my labour. In reality, even if fruiting escapes me, the journey would have been worth it. If I ever lose it all, I'll just start again. I have eighty years (God willing) to leave a legacy. I hope God grants me the wisdom towards action or inaction in my quest to leave an impactful legacy in this existence.
I write this not with arrogance but with a quiet understanding in my larger definition of wealth or poverty in relation to the human condition. I have been blessed and I am ever grateful for God's grace. That sums up for me that 'gratefulness' remains one of mankind's most underrated virtues."
Debby Ng (Aged 28, photojournalist):
"Poverty exists when people feel disempowered. I believe it is a state of mind. That notion may seem disillusioned and naive, but consider this: I met a girl (let's call her Sabina) in Nepal who had dropped out of school because her family could no longer afford it. She was the oldest amongst her three siblings, which meant that her two siblings would not have been able to go to school as well. Her father was an alcoholic, despite being the most educated in her family - he graduated from college. Her mother worked desperately as a janitor to keep things together, but things were falling apart. They didn't own a home. They were one family amongst millions in Nepal who were grappling with life.
Then, providence. Sabina's situation was picked up by a social worker working with a foundation that offered scholarships to underprivileged women. After an assessment, Sabina was accepted as a recipient of the scholarship. She was put into a school, but that wasn't it. Staff at the foundation didn't just give Sabina a scholarship, they became her mentors. They encouraged her to work hard, instilled belief in herself, nurtured her being and her soul, thus empowering her. Just as her world was falling apart, Sabina suddenly had hope. Quantitatively, she was by all definition, "in poverty", but qualitatively, she was enabled and empowered. She could once again, dream of a future. A future was possible, although the present was pathetic.
With her empowerment, Sabina brought her education home, educating her illiterate mom, and teaching her to read and write. She taught her sisters too. She also taught her educated father, encouraged him to give up alcoholism and work to support the family. Eight years on, the family that was about to live off the streets, now own a two story apartment in the outskirts of Kathmandu, renting out the lower level for income. Sabina is a nurse, her sister teaches at an elementary school, and her mother works as an administrator at a school. If you quantified their collective income, they might still be considered to be living in poverty on many scales, but to the family, they have achieved more than they ever dreamed of. They are not rich. They can't afford luxuries. They still have to be thrifty. But they are happy, they are at peace, and they can afford to dream.
I have met many families in Nepal with similar and perhaps, even more desperate stories.Abundance is a simple concept to me. It is simply having more than you need. Take all the things you need to survive, anything more than that, is an abundance. Most people then, live in abundance. If we could perceive that, perhaps there would be less suffering. We need to want what we have. Whether tangible, or intangible.
Poverty or the state of being poor comes into being when an individual is convicted of this due either to internal or external affirmations - "I am poor", "You are poor". Which equates to, "I am powerless/hopeless", "You are powerless/hopeless". Many are born into poverty, and are told that they are poor and powerless. They can either accept and internalise that, or resist and challenge that. I have met girls like Sabina who have challenged that, but I've also met some who, despite being presented with the same opportunity as Sabina, have chosen to accept the opposite - that they are poor and will remain so. "There is no use for people like us to go to school. We will always be poor." We can point all the fingers we want - that the government is responsible, that the colonial masters are responsible, that irresponsible Western companies are responsible... go back far enough, and some germ gets blamed for splitting in two.
On the other end of the scale, I know a man who despite living in a above-average sized house in a large and prosperous city who believes he is poor, though his assets would not reflect the same. He can never have enough. When he has a family car, he wants a luxury car. He buys it on credit. He pays for expensive European holidays on credit. The list is endless. By appearances, this man is not living in poverty. But through living on credit, he thrives in a life he cannot afford. He has amassed a great deal of debt and cannot cope with paying them because he wants more still. I've heard him say "I am a poor man" but if he sold his house, he'd no longer be one. This man's situation has become so dire that he saves on meals to afford his holidays. He refuses to sell his house, because he feels that in doing so, his perception of "poverty" is manifested, as if a smaller house is evidence that he has indeed become poor. So he holds on to his credit line, and becomes poorer and poorer. We may know several people in similar situations, though in varying degrees. Where does his belief come from? Perhaps he was so indoctrinated by peers or parents when he was young; that symbols of success are attached to these material items and anything less is evidence of failure. He too probably perceives people in a "lesser situation" than himself to be "poor" and probably has a prejudice, which is why he would rather suffer this way then be associated with that demographic.We have heard stories of many unique people who have risen from the poorest and most unlikely of situations, to become successful. Most of the time, we hear these stories and shrug them off. We say that "they were lucky", or "that's just one story, it won't happen to me." But some say, "if he or she can do it, why can't I?" Some of us are disempowered. Some of us are more empowered. Many of us are empowered, but fail to employ our powers. We indulge in selfish endeavours. We do not participate in the life of others because we feel disempowered to them. "I am just one person, what difference can I make?" Too many people believe that. But every once in awhile, someone steps up to the challenge, and lives a life that is engaged and of service.Poverty is relative. In Western societies like Australia, the USA and New Zealand, people in poverty have a bed and a car. In Africa, they have no meals and no clothing. In Singapore, they have a one room apartment with no electricity. It exists because we are disconnected, and it will disappear when we become involved. But as populations increase, and resources become depleted, there is less or no incentive to become involved. Remaining disconnected is convenient and most of us are guilty of it. Paradoxically, as situations become increasingly dire, we will be forced to once again become involved. The residents of Easter Island, were disconnected, and as a result, their civilization collapsed. Nations that have for so many years kept their borders closed to outsiders are opening up, connecting. Connecting creates opportunity, but can be dangerous if you do not have a firm clasp on your end of the tether.We can wax lyrical about all of this. Some arguments will be better than others. So lets get out then, and start making some meaningful connections."
"1. What is your idea of poverty?
Of course, not being able to afford basic necessities such as food, housing, an education, etc. but being 'culturally impoverished' would be my idea of poverty too. Was it some Persian poet who wrote; I forget who it was that, "If you are down to your last two pennies, buy bread with one and hyacinths with the other to feed your soul", or something to that effect. Not being able to attend opera, symphonies, art exhibitions, take walks in beautiful parks or grow a lovely garden 'to feed the soul' would be just as dreadful, if not worse to me as not being able to afford groceries.
2. What is your idea of abundance?State funding for the arts and support for artists. When we can afford art for art's sake and creativity is able to soar without artists having to worry about earning enough for their next meal. When myself as a painter and sculptor will no longer have to work on little kitschy items for quick sales just to survive.
3. Why is there poverty?Law of the jungle? I think it will always persist as there will always be those good at acquiring wealth, and the others whose talents lie elsewhere...like artists. Perhaps we actually need poverty around so that humanity doesn't get too soft and flabby in the long run.
My personal observation each time I return to Singapore is that the contrast between Singapore and the US grows ever more pronounced.
Without meaning any offense to American sensibility; honestly, stepping off the plane into Singapore from National Airport in Washington,D.C. is like moving from the 20th century to the 21st and from a third world country to the first world. While the US now appears steeped in poverty with an increasingly run-down infrastructure, soaring unemployment, beggars at road corners, frequent power outages, lack of basic services, lack of health care, etc., and a general air of decline and decay...Singapore flaunts ever-growing affluence -- slick, modern, squeaky clean public places, amazing new building projects, growth and abundance everywhere. I wonder if Americans are generally aware that they are now the 'new poor' lagging behind countries they tended to consider 'less developed'.
A down-side (for visitors from the US) to all this growth is how expensive a travel destination Singapore has become. I had come with the happy expectation of finding good bargains like in previous years but, alas, prices are now beyond what I would expect to pay in the US and even food and transport costs appear to have increased. Returning to live in Singapore and maintaining a similar lifestyle would also now be a sheer impossibility for a middle income earner from the US. Home and car prices in Singapore are unbelievable and beyond prohibitive!
The economic crisis in the US has affected all aspects of life and the art scene has suffered most severely. Funding and support for the arts has been the first thing to be be cut, being regarded as 'non-essential' for survival. It's extremely unfortunate that this is the case because the arts are the repository of our culture and perhaps ultimately, our humanity. I think our ancestors became sapient man the moment symbolic thought appeared and he was able to draw an animal figure on a cave wall. Diminishing the role of art in our lives is a sad and serious loss indeed."
