Pondering poverty

I'm staring out the window watching the leaves blow off my tree, lost in reflections on "poverty."

Right now I feel "poor."  Mr. Darcy needed an unexpected $2000 worth of dental work right before a month long trip, and now there is something wrong with his eye and he might need to see a specialist.  I hope the eye will clear up, and it's troublesome that I will have to leave him in less than tip top shape, and to know that I simply can't shell out any more thousands on him for quite some time.  I will earn no income during October, and I'm still waiting payment for an invoice mere days before I leave, an invoice that will pay for my hotels.  But I look around and know that I'm not "poor"--I would never say that.  I just feel broke and a bit stressed.  But come late November life will be back to normal; I'll have what I "need."

I'm flying to a country most of us quickly associate with real poverty.  Of course there are Indians far richer than any of us will ever be, but on the whole, we know they don't have the life we do, far from it.  I've noticed that people seem to comment on the poor that they still seem so happy, so content--you know the kind of comments I mean.  I'll probably make them myself.  Is it true or will I look for this "happiness" to ease the unbearable guilt I'll feel simply for being born in the West?  I was watching a documentary on India last night in which an elderly Indian woman stated quite directly, "India is poverty, that's what we have.  Look at me; we live like animals [referring to her family].  Do you think I want to live like this?  Of course I don't."

And then there are the rich who are impoverished in soul.  I don't mean the corrupt CEOs, that's obvious, but rather your more regular well-off person, who thinks of little else than status, attaining goods, having the right everything, referring to themselves as privileged, and putting themselves first no matter what.  They simply have a skinny soul and a fat bank account.  You know the type.  But calling them poor doesn't fit; instead I usually just resort to pompous ass or the like.

So what is poverty then--the complete absence of what we need and should have?  How do we define need?  What are the boundaries of need?  What should we give up, what should we give away?  Certainly poverty is not the lack of what we want, that's obvious.   But want and need can get a little fuzzy.

I think very soon my stress will snap into focus, and I don't look forward to feeling "lucky" either.  For right now though, I better get back to these pre-travel exams...