Poverty Vs Wealth

"In the year 2004 12.7% of United States citizens were considered to be living in poverty"1. Then there are the fortunate upper class citizens who have no idea how lucky they actually are. Granted many of the people who are living a privileged life have worked hard for what they have and deserve every bit of it. However what about the young heirs and heiresses we see on the televisions and in the tabloids? Do you really think they deserve what they have? We hear about their so-called problems every week on the news and in magazines. Its true that people with family money such as heirs and heiresses have problems, however they have no idea what struggling truly is until they have lived life in poverty.

The Webster dictionary defines a person in poverty as one who lacks a necessary or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions, and wealth is defined as a great quantity or store of money, valuable possessions, property, or other riches. In society today cars, clothes, diamonds, and houses are the symbol of status for people. If you're living in poverty clothing, shelter, and food are a statement of nothing other than the fact that you're going to live another day. "Economists measure poverty by income, assets, and socioeconomic metrics"2. United states outlook on what wealth is is entirely different than that of an individual living in a third world nation, "in a third word nation, a family with indoor pluming, running water, decent food and clothing, access to an

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education and health care are considered well off. In the United States it's considered poor because it's just the bare essentials"2. Taking that information into consideration think about the fact that "the number of families in poverty as of 2004 is 7.9 million"1. Its incredibly naive of people born into wealth to complain about "daddy not buying them a new BMW", when there are people around the world dying of hunger and sickness every day.

Although it seems impossible, people with wealth and people living in poverty can relate to one another. With money comes the privilege to buy whatever your heart desires, and for some people when they already have everything they want and still aren't content they turn to drugs. The fact that they have so much money helps to support their drug addiction. People living on the streets share the same problems of addictions, although they turn to drugs for a totally different motive, perhaps as an escape from their real existence on the streets. This is true for many people in poverty but not all. Nevertheless there will constantly be the stereotype that the entire homeless society pleads for money to get alcohol or drugs not for food. Wealthy society is also stereotyped, they are considered to be mean, snobby, selfish, brats; again this is true for some but not all wealthy people.

Of course the wealthy and poor society are much more different than they are alike. People who live life struggling everyday learn to appreciate what they have so much more than those who have everything handed to them. How does an heiress or heir know the value of a dollar if they never work hard to get the dollar? Wealthy