I thought poverty was a state of not having enough resources to survive or live off, not being able to provide for a family like others can, and not having enough money to meet one’s needs. Although poverty does involve these things, it is so much more to that and there are a lot more factors on why there is so much poverty. It is a major social condition and issue, because of the lack of resources. With the social issues, it causes a lack of security in one’s life and causes people to lose the function to adapt and survive beyond the minimum levels of satisfaction and needs. It even comes down to ecology issues with different weather conditions. If you look at people that live in the northern hemisphere, they are less likely to have poverty issues. People in the southern regions have more poverty issues, because of climate change and natural disasters that occur. Things like hurricanes and flooding are a factor with climate change and weather conditions that cause people to lose their homes and become homeless in poverty. Not even just the southern and northern regions have differences, but also rural and urban areas. When you live in an urban area there are more issues like sanitation, a more dense population, and social exclusion. People are less likely to help one another, because it has almost become normalized that there are many homeless people just wandering around. I personally think this is sad and I don’t understand how you could see someone in need and not try to help them in some way. I have always grown up with my parents teaching me to be kind and help others. When you see someone down or struggling you go and help and possibly be a light in their life that they might need at the time. One thing my family and I like to do when we’re in the drive through is pay for the person behind us. Little acts of kindness that don’t seem like much to you might mean the world to someone else and I truly believe it’s things in life like that, that are so important. 

    During my interaction with the class this week it has reshaped my thought of what I thought poverty was. Yes the things that I thought were the definition of poverty were, but I learned that there are so many other aspects. Listening to other students talk and give their thoughts on the topic in class really opened my eyes and thoughts on how big of a problem this actually is. Poverty is something we as humans see often. There was one thing brought up about poverty and it’s not always someone’s choice and that it sometimes just happens. I fully agree with this, because instances like natural disasters can happen and wipe out a town leaving someone with no home, food, transportation or a job.

    For my ten minutes of mindfulness practice I decided to enjoy my ten minutes by sitting on my back porch and enjoying nature. I like to sit and observe the trees around my house. It’s really calming to me to just feel the wind and watch birds come and land on the branches. I also like to observe the squirrels we have running around our backyard, because they are often quite comical.