Its Time to End Poverty in America Essay -- Break the Cycle of Povert

For those who live an impoverished life, it is difficult to participate in society. They are left behind in our cultural movement because they lack the necessities to be on an equal level with the rest of society. Because the poor cannot get their basic needs for life, they cannot improve their well-being; therefore, our society as a whole cannot efficiently move in new directions. As Jo Goodwill Parker states in "What is Poverty," she does not have luxuries. Luxuries of the impoverished are what we would consider our basic needs such as food, water, transportation and shelter. Simply getting adequate food is difficult, but not the main problem for the poor. As Parker states, her children "do not suffer from hunger, [her] seventy-eights dollars keeps [them] alive, but they do suffer from malnutrition" (63). The poor also suffer from a lack of clean water. Their water is often dirty and can not be heated to clean it or to clean anything else properly because of their lack of funds for gas and electricity. Parker must wash the dishes she has "in cold water and no soap ... hot water is a luxury. [She] does not have luxuries" (61). The money for the soap that she cannot afford must be saved for her baby's diapers, and she can not afford to use it for anything else. The poor can not afford soap, nor can they afford transportation, whether it is a car or publi c transportation. Those who are not lucky enough to live in an area with public transportation must find other means to get around. As Parker says, she must find a way to pay her neighbor "one way or another" for the rides to the health clinic (63). For those of us who have easy access to transportation, it is hard to imagine living without a vehicle in our family a... ...ng, then our nation will soon run into the problem that countries like Angola have, where the rich are rich but the poor are barely alive and there is no in between. If our efforts to advance ourselves in science and other areas cannot be put to use to improve the well-being of everyone living on our country and make a difference, then we need to change them. Poverty is a problem throughout the nation, and we must do something to correct it. The United States government and its citizens must focus its efforts to prevent and stop poverty in order to keep it from being a wide spread epidemic. Works Cited Awalt, Chistopher L. "Brother, Don't Spare a Dime" Dubuclet and Polster 66-68. Dubuclet, Mallory, and Kristen Polster, eds. The Mercury Reader. Dallas: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2004. Parker, Jo Goodwin. "What is Poverty?" Dubuclet and Polster 60-64.