Speech...

Elegy written in a country churchyard

Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear,
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

The quoted lines clear outline the dire consequences of poverty. Poverty is a world-wide phenomenon and has been in existence since the advent of communities and societies. It is an unfortunate thought, but poverty will remain with us as long as humans exist.

The greatest tragedy of poverty is that it perpetuates itself – often called the poverty cycle. A very small percentage break through this cycle and achieve the material pleasures of life. For the greater majority, however, conditions of poverty will continue from generation to generation.

Poverty can deprive not only an individual, but it can also deprive a community and the world at large with the untapped talent of a president, leader, scientist, discoverer, peacemaker or any other similar personality. If we take, for example, the presidents of the United States of America; they all came from "prominent" families who had financial and other forms of status. They may not necessarily have had the intellect or personality to serve as leaders who could strive towards peace in the world. Current president George Bush is a case in point. From amidst the poverty-stricken families of the United States of America there may have been an individual who possessed the intellect and personality to steer the world towards a solution to solve some of the world's problems. The poverty situation of this individual could have been the stumbling block for his/her advancement.

The burning question now is: how do fellow humans contribute towards the poverty situations of individuals and communities? Recent economic reports indicate that the gape between the rich and poor is widening. The rich contribute to the poverty situation of the poor by paying them wages and salaries that barely meet their needs. The leads to the poor not being given the opportunity to break out of the mould of poverty. They are so busy trying to eek out a living from their meager incomes that they cannot expose the talents they possess. Their talents are like gems hidden on the deep ocean floor- never to be discovered. Even the charities that the rich give and which they make an issue of, is not enough to alleviate the plight of the poor and downtrodden.

The only chance that the poor have is the life they are given by Almighty Allah. If this life had to be in the hands of the rich then the poor would stand no chance of living. An anonymous poet once wisely wrote the following poem:
Life is a thing that runs on wheels
Death is a thing that everyone feels
If life were a thing that money could buy
Then the rich would live and the poor would die
But God in His wisdom made it so
That the rich and the poor together must go!