Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-06
Psychology and Poverty.

Since poverty is the common lot. II
would be as foolish for the psychologist
as for any one else to think or write OF
people without thinking of them con-
stantly as limited in the wherewithal To
convert what they would like to do into
what they can actually do. In judging
their behavior you must consider their
condition. Having the poor always with
us and of us we do well to consider the
effects of poverty on our mental atti~
tudes.
The poor may be as happy as the
rich; certainly wealth is no security
nor substitute for the truer values
Of health. energy good fellowship and
contented and adjusted spirit
WHAT l propose to consider is not the
most serious effects Of poverty upon the
mind and character. MANY are the
charges that have been brought against
H. that 1t makes the poor feel inferior,
gives them sense of disappointment
and failure, makes them bringing and
subscrvient, distorts their opinions,
gives them a hatred of the rich, In the
extreme leads TO despair and the life
OF an outcast or a criminal All that
applies To the exceptions only But one
cannot blind ones eyes to the fact that
poverty Is in many ways trial and
those who bear 1t nobly may reflect It's
nobility.
All that has some bearing on the ef.
feet OF poverty on human psychology
There are mental attitudes which are
likely to be induced by poverty that
have larger scope--though those
called better off and well-to-do are by
no means free from them. There Is a
form OF -mindedness. which lis
one OF the worst things that money
or the lack of it--does to the mind II
Is the necessity. the daily, hourly me-
cessity OF thinking of everything In
terms OF cost, how little you can af~
ford. III you can escape that, what
ever your income, you are not meanly
money-minded
The misfortune of poverty Is that
money comes TO mean SO much more
to you than YOU want It to. 1t de-
stroys your sense OF human values.
You are likely TO get mean about
money and 10 assume that everybody
else feels the same way, So It has come
about that To be mean" means To be
stingy lacking all generosity, though
mean applies To any ungenerouS emO-
tion. Poverty may make you mean
minded II IL does, then the poverty
germ mas Affected your mental attitude,
has invaded your character to It's nn-
doing
The passion for money makes some
people mad and some people mean. II
may make miser both. and by a diff
ferent route poverty may induce a
meanrmindedneas that III a handicap
10 mental fitness. Many people who
are not poor are mean minded about
money matters. Some Of them may
have become affected by long years OF
poverty and they couldn't grow Out
of II when their bank account in
creased
When a bank account makes people
generous or releases their natural gen.
erosity II Is all To the good The bur.
| den OF poverty 10 generous minds Ii
that II crampK their expression Of their
feelings. II. however p0or. you don't
| let poverty eramp your feelings you
have escaped Its blight,
| What we want Is not only life but
security liberty and the pursuit OF
| happiness, and we try Ia make them
constitutional rights Poverty makes
| for Insecurity, II limits liberty, II makes
harder tile pursuit Of happiness For
| that reason We accept the reduction 81
poverty as The goal 81 government But
the poor Ia nleleg need not ~ pool "
-. g