PAS 114 B
Professor Broadous
22 March 2012
Elbow Room
Nearly eighty percent of humanity live on less than ten dollars a day; most people spend that much on coffee in the morning. People fail to see the "invisible" in the world; the worthless, the poor, the people in poverty. As we grow and develop opinions, we are defined by the most influential "invisible hand", and that is space. Space is the one thing that defines people without them even knowing it. As today's society changed and is altered into many pretenses, each age group is affected in many different ways. The young don't have their own choices to make, the adults have limited choices to make, and the seniors don't seem to care about the choices that are made anymore. Poverty is the state and/or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support, and it is not only affecting the poor anymore, it is physically and emotionally moving people from the middle class into the lower class.
Children are the most important organism in today's society. The are so important because they are the future, but we cannot have a future, if it is not taken care of. Over twenty-five percent of children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight and/or stunted. Space defines children to the point that they are not given options or choices to make on their own. When children are forced into poverty, it is impossible for them to get out. World wide, there is over 2.2 billion children; over one billion are in poverty. As the number increases, the number of children out of the public education system increases as well. With less and less children in school every year, children are not only hurting themselves in the present, but also in the future and the long run. The choice to not go to school, is forced upon children in poverty because they are discouraged to attend. Worldwide, nearly 121 million children are out of education. The future leaders of this world will not have a high school diploma. It is said that the two main things that will help a person out of poverty is education and relationships. Since children are limited on their relationships, they have their education to rely on the most. Poverty and hunger walk hand in hand, and hunger is a painful sensation or a strong desire caused by the want of food. Not only the want for food, but the need for food. Almost 100 billion pounds of food is wasted in America each year, meanwhile, 12.9 million children go hungry. Space defines children because they are scared and timid of the world and of the people around them. Children are starting to blame themselves for the state that they are in, and that causes them to develop demented thoughts. In 2010, just two short years ago, one in seven households were considered to be in poverty. This was according to the Census Bureau, and it has been the highest number in the United States recorded since 1993. With these escalating numbers, the number of people going into shelters are increasing as well. People from the poor and the middle class are seeking help from shelters every day. However, the qualifications to be a homeless shelter makes it almost impossible to be in one. Some of them are: one cannot be on drugs, one must be looking for a job, if handicapped, one must find a proper shelter to accommodate their needs, and one must come only at certain hours of the day. Along with these qualifications, there is also fears of a homeless shelter. Some of them are: fear of being raped, separated from their family, contracting parasites/diseases, and theft. These reasons are what's making most people reject the thought of going to a homeless shelter completely. Adults throughout the country go through poverty and some never make it out. In 2009, 43.6 million people were in poverty. Space defines adults to the point that they are confined to themselves because of the lack of choices they are given. Ranging from ages 20-60, adults are defined by the space around them. Nowadays, you could see bums to a man with a PhD on the streets. In today's society, there is an invisible line called the poverty line which is the minimum income level used as an official standard for determining the proportion of a population living in poverty. Nearly 35.9 million people live below the poverty line. This space defines us to what level of class people stand in. A father who owns his own company, with two daughters at home is considered to be poor because of the definitions of the poverty line. Even though he is able to support his entire family and able to own a house and spend quality time with his family, he is defined by his space. As the world is seeing the last of the baby boomer generation, they continue to live among society. People ages from 65+ are going through a tough time just like the rest of society. 3.4 million seniors are in poverty and some of their own families don't even care about them. At senior homes, most, if not all, seniors are there simply to feel needed by society, or by other people in general. The most dramatic cases are found in senior homes such as some in spiraling depression. Depression is one of the most difficult diseases to overcome as a human being, but it has been proven that seniors who become a part of something, such as an active member at a senior center, can actually reverse depression and become much happier and pleasant in their lives. Another reason why there are many seniors active at senior centers is because they have nowhere else to go. Even though they might have been wealthy about ten years ago, most are deep into poverty nowadays. In the past four years, the number of seniors entering and exiting the senior center has been very steady, but that can also be due to the seniors old age and/or death. On an average day at a senior center, most of the seniors enjoy their day with one another and play pool or shuffleboard. However, there are the seniors that are still conservative and timid, and they stay away and secluded to themselves. Space defines them in the way that people seem to not care about the older generation. When they feel this way, they seem bitter with themselves and other people. As this society moves forward with the upper, middle, and lower class, the two bottom classes seem to be getting larger in numbers. Space defines each person from what they wear, to how they act. Poverty is one of the main results of how space defines us, because life is so demanding and people seem to just "watch out for themselves". Society needs to realize that helping each other will help the country and better help themselves in their own situation. People deny that other peoples problems are not theirs, but in the long run, they slowly become everyone's problems. Today's society and this world can be better benefited when we learn not to "throw away people" and to learn that we are all each other's "space".
Works Cited
"Evil Deeds." Is Depression a Disease? Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
