POVERTY IS POWER

        We, Filipinos are known globally for our resilience. We thrive in challenges, whatever form they come to be. But the greatest adversary that many we are trying to conquer is poverty. With roughly two million poor Filipinos nationwide, many are struggling to feed their empty stomach. In the face of desperation, many have lost hope. With no idea on how to feed our grumbling stomachs without money, how can we manage to live well?

Since I was an elementary student, I have been notorious for being a nerd who burns her eyebrows studying. But they were very wrong. I did not burn my eyebrows, I burnt my hair. My family is from Palapag, Northern Samar. My mother is a maid while my father was a habal-habal (motorbicycle) driver. With an income that hardly feeds the family, we cannot afford to have electricity then. So I had an improvised gas lamp as my study buddy. Since the light would still be dim for my reading, I would lower my head further to be able to read better. Since I’m too busy reading, I wouldn’t notice immediately that my hair is already burning. I would only do so when I get a whiff of my burnt hair. But even then, it didn’t stop me from reading and learning and continuously striving for education.

            Many children especially in remote areas of the Philippines do not have whatever is needed to go to school or simply, they do not have access to school. These children need all the support they can get. Various stories of children moving mountains and seas just to get to school have been told through newspapers, magazines, television radio and all other media. Many of them still hope. They just won’t give up rather still fight and struggle to learn because they know that learning is beyond what is written in books and blackboards, it is more than just being the top one of the class, it is more than quizzes and exams. Learning is what they do with their lives. Learning is the everyday desire to know more, not only about lessons being taught in school, but more about what life teaches. Learning is a choice, no matter how deprived they may seem.

            Poverty keeps us motivated. It makes us yearn for a better life. It fuels us to work hard to achieve the common goal, that is, have a brighter future. We never stop seizing every opportunity that comes our way. Jean-Paul Sartre said “We are our choices.” If there is a downside to poverty, it is when it becomes an end point, when people stop hoping for a better life. And when people do, they block the possibilities that await them.

But if we turn poverty into an inspiration, it gives us power that drives us towards the goal we want to achieve because poverty teaches people how to endure countless difficulties. It provides us the courage that suffices for lack of financial resources. It makes us resourceful, self-reliant, creative, industrious, patient, content and compassionate to the plight of others. And best of all, poverty makes us proud once we look back at how they fought to have a better life.