Should we feel sorry for the poor?
The policy of targeted poverty alleviation has provoked a hot debate about whether the poor should be helped. It is reported that some poor people who has got help from government asked for money or even wife from the government. Most people feel angry about this. Just like what Lu xun said, we feel sorry for their misfortune, but angry for their cowardice. when I read Crime and punishment, I also wonder whether Raskolnikov should be helped.
Opponents said that the reason why poor people are poor is that they are lazy, so they deserve it. If the government use public resource to help this lazy people, it is unfair to those hardworking people.
But before we criticize the poor, we should firstly consider the following three points.
First one is birth lottery. Some people are made as a poor, but some are born to be poor. In respect of the value of equality, we should help those born to be poor. We can’t decide in which family we will be raised up, so help those people is help yourself.
The second point is whether the society gives them the chance to get out poverty. If the society do gave those people the chance to get out of poverty, we should not feel sorry for those people.
The third is whether it is good for most people to let those people be poor. If they are lazy people, it is unfair for those hardworking people if they get help. So it will be good for the whole society. But if they can’t change their pitiful situation through their hardworking, then the social order should be reformed.
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