When I started reading Mohammad Yunus’ Banker to the Poor I was immediately struck by how little the poor people who are helped by the Grameen Bank needed to help themselves build a better life. Of course I was also struck by the ways in which these same people find themselves locked into a cycle which they have no way to escape, unless someone will lend them a hand (or a little money). After reading the first couple of chapters I had to put the book down and think about it a few days. The same thing happened when I read Nickeled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and actually, although the situations are different and the countries and the status of our poor and nearly poor people, there are very strong similarities in that in both cases the people about whom I was reading were locked into a self-perpetuating system that will never allow them to break free and become self-sufficient.
Both books opened my eyes to things that I never really thought about. Oh I knew the poor existed. Who does not? But I never thought much about why they were poor, or how they could stop being poor, except for the standard pap that we all tell ourselves. But much of the standard pap is wrong.
I have never been poor. It is highly unlikely that I ever would be — I was born with too many advantages. But Yunus is right in that there is no reason on earth why anyone should be poor, so poor that they cannot provide shelter, food, clothing, and health for their families. Granted not everyone may be rich, and not everyone even wants to be rich. This rethinking of my basic assumptions is tiring work. I am sure it is worthwhile in the end. If we all managed to do it, how much better would the world be?
At the end of the book, there were so many ideas and beliefs I was overwhelmed. I took pages of notes. I cannot condense them into a smaller space. Yunus is revolutionary and whether one agrees with him or not, his goals are admirable. To achieve them would require a complete restructuring of human society.
At the moment I will leave you with these two quotes:
Poverty does not belong in a civilized society. pp 236
and
Charity is not a solution to poverty. Charity only perpetuates poverty by taking the initiative away from the poor. Charity allows us to go ahead with our own lives without worrying about those of the poor. It appeases our consciences pp237.
There are many more profound, more thought-provoking, and more controversial statements. At the moment, this strikes me as the gist of the matter.
Now, how do we change the world?