thoughts on poverty & happiness

I think we americans have a skewed vision of poverty. We either believe that people who have very little in the way of money must somehow deserve the lives they lead, or we feel sorry for them because they don't have the many material possessions we have come to take for granted.

Being in Ethiopia reinforced my belief that wealth and happiness are inversely correlated, if there's any correlation at all. I've said before that I think the Ethiopian people are among the most joyful and gracious in the whole world. And many of them own almost nothing.

I feel as though a part of their joy is derived from the fact that they have to live in the present moment. Tomorrow is not promised in many parts of the world. In america, we are so future focused that we often forget to live for today. I think we can all take a lesson away from Ethiopia: enjoy this moment.

I'll close with one of my favourite poems, written by Nikki Giovanni. The last line says it all.

Nikki-Rosa

childhood remembrances are always a drag
if you’re Black
you always remember things like living in Woodlawn
with no inside toilet
and if you become famous or something
they never talk about how happy you were to have your mother
all to yourself and
how good the water felt when you got your bath from one of those
big tubs that folk in Chicago barbecue in
and somehow when you talk about home
it never gets across how much you
understood their feelings
as the whole family attended meetings about Hollydale
and even though you remember
your biographers never understand
your father’s pain as he sells his stock
and another dream goes
and though you’re poor it isn’t poverty that
concerns you
and though they fight a lot
it isn’t your father’s drinking that makes any difference
but only that everybody is together and you
and your sister have happy birthdays and very good
Christmases
and I really hope no white person ever has cause to write about me
because they never understand that Black love is Black wealth and they’ll
probably talk about my hard childhood and never understand that
all the while I was quite happy.