cause I'm messing aroung with you guys. Alright Brother Boo, back to your "desire" statement and you projecting your traits and judgeing others.

You: yeah it does. if you wanna work you can get a job. if you wanna learn to read you can. desire IS the key.

This sounds like you are projecting your work ethic and determination to a group of people. Desire may be the key for YOU, but maybe not for others.

You: For many it IS easier to sit back and "get over" than it is to make an effort to sustain yourself.

Tenacity and Independance! a Boodaah trait

You: thing is that when you relay on ANYBODY to sustain you you're reliant upon that person and their whims.

Independance! a Boodaah trait

You: don't het me wrong, there are hurdles aplenty. but at some point if you say "I'm not even going to TRY and get past that" or fuss about the fact that the hurdle exists, you're essentially pulling yourself out of the "race".

I think you get where I'm going here.

You: I believe in a "do what it takes" ethic.

So, because that's what you believe in, we all should?

You: If you're just sitting home collecting a check and not doing anything else then (sorry if this sounds harsh) but you are a leech. Go to school, help in your community, SOMETHING.

Damn. That's a very judgemental statement.

We are totally off the subject now, but as you alluded to in another post, I do have a point that I'm trying to make here. Everything that we have alluded to in this thread, lazyness, independence, ambition (all the human traits) are common in all walks of society. My point is that poverty doesn't have a thing to do with the human side of this equation. I'm willing to bet that the percentages would say that there are as many lazy poor people as there are lazy rich people. The problem is that we concentrate on the impoverished people and say to them "why are you poor? Johnny made it out of the ghetto, why are you still there?" Without really looking at the total picture.

This is where it gets unfair. The other side of the equation is the system.

When the government decided to provide public schools, then they got into the business of educating the masses. Why did they decide to educate some of the population and exclude the rest? Is it the have nots fault that they got the short end of that decision. Why are we blaming the victims here?

When the government decided to provide housing, then they got into the business of providing shelter for the masses. Why did they decide to not maintain those properties and allow its own people to live in squalor? Once again we are saying to the have nots, its your fault you are there in the first place.

Time for business school to step in, remember Maslow's "hierarchy of needs"? Well, shelter is a fundamental need. If it is effected, you effect everything else in that persons life. In our society, education is a fundamental need. If you effect that, then the persons future is effected. Both of these fundemental needs are/were controlled by the government. Is it a coincedence that the people mostly effected by the government are the impoverished? The people who actually need the most help!?!

Also, it is no coincedence that PRIVATE companies are coming in and remaking both of these governmental institutions.

Blacks weren't even allowed to work in certain industries (anything financial, etc.) until two generations ago. Blatant racism gave us 150 yards to run in the 100 yard dash, yet we look at our own people and say: "What is your problem? RUN NIGGA!! I DID!!!" Well, everybodys not gonna have the drive to run that race. Everybody is not created equal. Period.

Of course there are lazy people who don't want to work, who live in poor neighborhoods. There are people who intentionally milk the system for everything its got. But as Spirit said, that is the small minority and we can never get absolute numbers when it comes to social behavioral patterns.

When you add both sides of this equation together, you get all types of mixed answers. An ambitous poor person, a lazy rich person and vice versa.

But what you don't get is a "culture of poverty".

Peace

Pseudonym-less Wendell

Peace

Wendell