A tale of two poverties (Part One)

Many years ago, a friend of mine helped organize a Christmas gift drive for her local school. The children at the institution were mostly living in poverty. The drive was a success. After the event, the woman sent out a YouTube video the Boys and Girls Club put together regarding Christmas and poverty-stricken children in Chicago.

The premise of the video was the children were asked what they would like for Christmas. The items they desired were Nike shoes, a desktop computer, a gaming station, etc., etc. After the children were asked what they would like, they were then asked what they would like to give their mother for Christmas. Most stated they wanted to give their mom some piece of expensive jewelry such as a diamond ring or diamond tennis bracelet. One child in particular said he wanted to give his mom a lot of gold jewelry.

Each child was presented with the gift he desired and the gift he wished to give his mother. The climax to the story--the child was told he could only choose one gift. He could either get a gift for himself or select the gift for his mother. Almost all the children choose the gift for his mother. Of course after the child picked his gift, all the children were told how wonderful they were and that for their good behavior, they would actually receive both gifts. The child celebrated. The child's mother was called in and told how exceptional her child was for being so selfless in choosing to give the parent the gift and foregoing his own gift.

There were many hugs and some tears. Everyone felt warm and fuzzy. Everyone seemed to be rejoicing that despite their poverty, it was going to be a joyous holiday season. I, however, was disheartened by the entire episode.

While watching these children, I could not help but notice all of them were clothed in appropriate winter clothing which was free from tears and stains. Most of the children had on nice button-down shirts, thick wool sweaters and/or other clothing which looked as though it had been recently purchased from a department store. The mother who liked gold jewelry walked into the filming room covered in gold jewelry--gold teeth, gold earrings, layers and layers of gold necklaces, gold bracelets and gold rings. The woman must have been wearing several thousand dollars worth of jewelry. I kept thinking to myself, "If you are poor, how can you afford so much jewelry!?"

When the movie ended, I was left with a sick feeling in my stomach. "Oh, these children were not poor by any means! Why were they being showered with such luxurious gifts? There are so many people around the world and even in the USA who have so much less. There are children who are freezing from the cold and endure hunger each day from lack of food. Why are we so blind to help the real poor?" My eyes filled with tears as I silently wept for the people who were experiencing true poverty.


(Link to Part Two click here)