Poverty does not equal suffering

For some, poverty and suffering are one in the same. This linkage represents a logical error that needs to be examined and then corrected. One can be poor and not suffer, and, one can suffer without being poor.

 

Too many people want to end poverty thinking that they are going to end suffering. There is no way to end to either in the actual world where human beings live. Both can only be ended in theory, and the left is enamored with such theories, but can't seem to make them work in the real world.

 

There are poor people in America who have enough to eat (are obese, even), a clean apartment with central air conditioning, a microwave, a cell phone, a TV, and a dvd player. They are poor and may remain poor for the rest of their days. They are "intractably" poor, but they are not suffering all of their days. Surely they have rough patches, but who among us does not?

 

Poverty does not equal suffering.