The issue of global poverty is a big global problem and probably of great use to the Supreme Being and his alter ego. Both might be looking on, from opposite ends; hoping to reap something big out of this one. Sorry people but they say man’s adversity is God opportunity.

A lot of interventions are being undertaken by the world's rich. But the impact of their effort is dismal; if one considers when they started and how many people are no longer poor since then. My take is that it's very costly to just put one man above the poverty line and the current strategies simply don't add up. I laud the efforts but I criticize the cost. I see a folly here in that few people think of injecting the entrepreneurship drive and skill that made the rich donor turn something from nothing in the first place. Giving away aid, without scrutinizing and building the entrepreneurship drive of the poor, is akin to giving a blind man a fishing rod and pointing him in the direction of the lake. Yes, he might catch some fish but at what cost or effort?

There have been a lot of credible interventions and success stories in the fight against poverty. But let's not forget that, even during these times, if you put a beggar on horseback, he might still ride to the devil. The current methods have led to the belief that to get above the poverty line, one simply needs financial aid. With that regard, I dare say, “open the eyes of the poor; let them really see their follies and they will turn-up rich men.” It doesn't matter what it is; I believe everything on this earth has a use. We just have to open our eyes and discover the use for it.

If money is the problem then, why is it that winning a lottery doesn't guarantee a life of bliss? Or why is it that lottery winners don't make the list of the top-five-hundred richest people in the world; yet they have been catapulted by the win!

I once had a neighbor who had an averagely paying job and a happy family. They were not rich but neither were they poor. As far as we were concerned, they were the model family for folks this side of the planet. But things changed for the worse the day the man of the house won a lot of money; in one of those multinational competitions. By winning, the man transformed from a grounded and loving husband to a high flyer with all the drugs and women to boot. In less than three months, the family of five was gone. The man blew his fortune on worthless pleasures, lost his job and finally took the lives of his family due to shame.

I'm sure there are millions of true stories like this out there. But the lessons are going to waste to the probable amusement and disappointment of the Supreme Being; if one exists. Every newcomer into the scene comes in, believing he has what it takes to make the script play out differently. Very few suspect that it could be a lead or strategy herding us to concepts like "The Grand Counter Test."

Another incidence actually occurred in my backyard. My father was a smart man in the field of development economics; and was very much respected among his peers. He believed in the phrase “a good life is helping others without killing oneself” and lived to prove it. Unfortunately his health deteriorated and his life got cut short prematurely. He was especially notorious for employing relatives, despite always being let down by them. In one such case, he employed his cousin to be in charge of his vegetable farm. According to him, that was a very kind gesture that ought to have been appreciated by his cousin; a jobless but energetic middle-aged man. My dad needed a farm manager anyway. I bet, he was thinking “killing two birds with one stone.” Well, his cousin had other ideas. One week after landing the job, he had already joined a few dots together. Get a full copy of my book and read what he did and why fighting poverty is not a small fight.

 

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