"What is poverty?" is the question Sr. Saul of Armonia asked our group as our team met in a house outside Mexico City appropriately named Casa Blanca for its beautiful white walls. Most of the responses the group came up with had to do with lack of money or resources. And certainly that is part of the story of poverty. But what Sr. Saul opened our eyes to is that one of poverty's major factors is isolation.
To illustrate this let me tell you about my Monday morning this week. As usual I was driving my two oldest children to school along with two other friends with whom we carpool. About 5 minutes from the school my phone rings and it is a good friend whose children happen to go to the same school. I joyfully answered the phone sharing our customary greeting. Ricky wasted no time in telling me that his van had broken down as he was driving his kids to school. Could I help him because he had all the car seats and though they have a second car his wife was stuck at home with no way to transport the younger children to pick him up. I dropped off my kids at their school and then gladly drove across town to help my friend in need.
But what would he have done if he didn't have friends to call? It's something that the middle class takes for granted- community. I don't know what would have happened but I can imagine some of the domino effects. His kids miss school, he shows up ridiculously late to work if at all and faces the consequences, his wife is stuck at the house all day with no way to transport kids if they get sick, etc... It's easy to see that relationships hold us up when life takes a bad turn. But if you don't have relationships you can count on things spiral downhill very fast.
We learned lots of other things about poverty while in Mexico that go way beyond lack of resources. What are some of the primary lessons you've learned?
