I found one of the questions asked in our last class interesting. "Is poverty a relative or absolute term?" I had always thought of it in more absolute terms... if you make less than x amount of money, you are considered to be living in poverty. What do you guys think?

In my opinion poverty is all about how you deal with your financial status. My husband and I are doing the best we can with what we've got, and I don't consider us as being in poverty. However there may be some other people in the world who think we are very much in poverty.

It is hard to say. Maybe it is a combination of attitudes and $. But then again you might be making a little money but your attittude is positive. It is just how you look at it most likely.

Samantha I thought the same thing. I thought if you made x amount of money you were considered to be in poverty. I am still unsure about it. I really think is how you as a person look at it and how hard you try.

Poverty is hard to define. As the world continues to feel more and more unbalanced with those who keep climbing up the socio-economic ladder and those sliding down it, I feel definitions continue to get more blurry. But, I do agree that it is about one's attitudes. I had the opportunity to travel to Argentina for a Missions trip. I witnessed, families that were below poverty (one bedroom houses, with dirt floors and 10 residents) but, they were the most joy-filled people I had ever met. They told me they were thankful for what they had been given, not for what they did not have.

I always thought of poverty as an absolute term myself. I thougt that if you made a certain amount of money you were either at poverty or below or above poverty. After class I feel that poverty is an individual basis. It is defined by the lack of resources and that could veriy with different people.

I am reminded of something my grandmother often told me. Her parents were farmers with 9 kids. She said, "We were poor, but we didn't know it. Everybody was poor." Does poverty differ based on society?

I agree with those of you saying it could be relative. Someone in America might consider themselves poor, but be rich if they were in a small poverty-stricken country. YOu can not have a lot of money, but spend it wisely and provide for your family. If everyone is getting everything they need they may not consider themselves poor.

I think that poverty is relative. For example, if you go into a community by which poverty is defined absolutely, most of the children there probably grew up in similar conditions and do not know that they are poor until either someone tells them they are, or they go beyond their community and realize it as they compare themselves to others. I found this to be true while teaching in Conover. The children I taught did not know that they were living in what I considered poverty. When you look at our lives as teachers living on the mega-buck salaries we make, we don't consider ourselves in poverty either, whereas someone who make our annual salary in a month might view us as impoverished. So I think that poverty is relative and is not absolute.

I think poverty is relaitve to the situation or area you are in. I do not think poverty is solely based on a magic number. Poverty is so much more than just a number. In our present days of economic down-turn, there are many people whom I am sure are making below the poverty level, not by choice, but by current circumstances. I believe all of that can change over time. However, I believe that the attitudes, beliefs, and the priorities (or lack of) are not as easily changed.

I think that society sets the status of what economic category you are in. With all the media hype about the newest and most up to date care, computer, and toys we as a society think that if we don't attain those things we are poor. It is a state of mind. I am very rich in family and friends and money can't buy that!