My Thought About Poverty

I saw a post on Facebook recently about a poor boy who was only given 30 cents by his parents when he goes to school. With a mere 30 cents, he can only afford to buy one piece of curry puff during recess at the canteen. But instead of going to the canteen every day, he goes to the canteen only on Tuesday and Thursday when he has 60 cents. With the 60 cents, he bought himself a curry puff and drinks. On Friday, he donated his money at the Mosque during the Zohor Prayers.

What I am trying to say here is, out there, there are people who are really poor that most of us don't really take notice and care. Some kids are much poorer than the boy that I mentioned, some don't even have any allowances to school, some don't even have their breakfast before going to school. Since I am the only child in my family, my parents gave me RM10 every day as an allowance when I go to school, and I felt so fortunate but sad when knowing some students doesn't have the same privilege as me.

I remembered my dad used to tell me about his schooling days, he only received RM2 or RM3 to school when he was still studying. He used about RM1 for the bus fares and used 50 cents for food and drinks. The rest of the money, he will save for emergency uses, when he needs to buy school books or other stationery. So, I followed my dad's footsteps and his advice and kept some of my allowances in my piggy bank.

Most of us know that in this world today, money is very important especially for those who live in the cities. For those who stay in far villages, they have other ways to grow or find foods for themselves from the natural resources such as the forest, the river, and the seas. People in the cities have to use money for their everyday living, without money, they will live in misery or even will be left out of the society. Rich people will never know how miserable life is for poor people who require money, unless of course if they become poor themselves. For poor people, they will be intrigued with worries when their family becomes bigger or when their children are getting older. It means they need more money to support them and their education.

I hope the government will think about something to eradicate poverty in this beloved country of mine and hopefully, all the other government of other nations will do the same. I know it will be hard, but nothing is impossible to achieve if they try and set their mind and focus on the problem. The world can be a great place to live if all the people shared the responsibility to help each other.