Poverty and Youth - BTR for Campus and Youth Ministry

Poverty and Youth

Thousands of young people graduated from universities and colleges every year. After huge investment to get the degree, no surprise; no job around! The irony of the present world is that if you are graduated from ‘not so popular’ universities or colleges, job is hard to come by. Those who can afford to attend good schools can afford to attend good universities and end up in big corporate office. While on other hand poor can’t afford to attend good school so also can’t go to good universities and ended up in corner of your house and content with the sari-sari store. Worst, one will end up driving ‘padi-cab’ or ‘tri-cycle’. While that’s something! Still, there is possibility of ‘forever hunting’ job. This world is not a ‘poor-friendly’ world.
Who is to be blame for all these mess? Politician? Our forefather? Who? Now it is difficult to point out to a single cause, responsible for this present situation of poverty. It is like an unwelcome guest. We blame the Government and politicians and most of the time we are right but are they the only factors for all these mess? I believed there must be several factors aside from them, such as selling our agricultural for setting up industries. There are chain effects on such transaction. Some are positives and some negatives. Aside from leaving the hardworking culture, it leaves ones to indulge in a kind of lifestyle which is not at all fitted.
Where can we go and what can we do? Many are not lucky enough to get a chance to get a job even at the workplace where it is underpaid. Leaving aside those graduates, what about the drop-out youth and those youth who never has a chance to study. Our definition of youth is not limited to just educated young people, it encompass all young people regardless of what they have achieve or not, or do they attend church or not, or affiliated with other religious practice for that matter. Now, we are living in such hostile world and our future looks bleak! It is like unfinished subjects that need to be clear before ones get graduation. In India, we called it “back subjects”. The problem of “back subject” is that it resurfaced before we get graduation and many times, hold us back from graduating. Unless we deal with the back subject, we can’t go further. These unemployment and poverty hinder us from going further and it doesn’t help us to build a better future. Unless it is treated soon, it will do much harm to our future like a cancerous cell spreading rapidly and destroying all the good cell.
What really can we do with our degrees and diplomas? If one doesn’t have any background – economically, politically, socially etcetera etcetera, one is bound to face the music. Our background is not build in a day. In most of the cases, it is determined by ones’ birth. If we are born in a rich family, we have all the necessary backgrounds for any kinds of job. Only few poor youth become successful; from scraps to something well established. But the larger numbers remain jobless. Many have to push beyond their limit. The genius and talented youth, though poor somehow has no problem in getting job and get rich but such are just a micro fraction of the millions. Though some could make it, there remain a large numbers of youth; struggling to get even a job where it is underpaid. The business owners hardly count how much and how hard we invested to get those degrees and diplomas. Their main interests are basically on how much they can get out of us or from us. Profit maximization has always been the core value of any business. There is little or very negligible amount of interest given to the ‘wellness’ of the workers.
Our life will go on whether we’ve got job or not! Population is still exploding, poor is making more poor people while few rich could makes just few rich. Though I am not an expert in statistic, I am sure the ratio is wide, very wide. Who can change it? Partially the answer lies in the youth of today.
The following will help us in solving our problem of poverty
1) Healing. The word healing has been inappropriately imply by many to just healing of physical health, specifically to human kind. There are only few who realized the fact that our land has been wounded by human greediness. One wise man from Northern Philippines once said, “We don’t own the land; the land own us” and I need to be corrected if I am wrong. The same wise person further validates the statement by saying “because the land outlived us. The land has been here long before us”. Once our land was fertile but she has been wounded, abused, and manipulate to an extent that she could not bear fruit anymore. Once our land is heal, everyone will have food to eat and cloths to wear.
2) Change in attitude: Change of attitude is needed from all sections of the society. The Government need to change her attitude toward the poor and marginalized. The principle of ‘pro-people’ should be translated into something concrete and practical. The nation needs to defense her territory but at the same time need to look into her people the more. Government officials need to look beyond their individualism. In the absence of genuine concern for others corruption exists. Business owners and the rich needs to change their attitude of making profits at the cost of others. The poor also need to change our attitude. We must step out from the inferiority complex, from the timid mind; break free from the mentality of being under.
3) Reforming the society: To bring reformation is not a mean task. The history is the witness to what it took to reformed something. The Protestant church has been down this road when Martin Luther stood against “indulgence”. The church in those days was so much given to selling “indulgence” to raise money for the ongoing construction of St. Peter's Basilica. The point here is that there were so much injustices and corruptions happening and Martin Luther was brave enough to speak against it not because he don’t want but because it was not just and people were enticing to false hope. There is an urgent call for men and women to the challenges we are facing today. Can we expect our Government? May be! Our Politician? May be! Our “age-old” lola and lolo? May be not! We are not sure of them but we can be sure of ourselves; young, full of life and ideas, not yet influence by the seeds of corruption, full of dreams and aspiration for the better future.
4) Rediscovering self: Because of the harsh reality of poverty, we lost even what we have in us. God created us with a definite purpose and I don’t believe He can do anything useless. God forbid. Further, every one of us has various gifts and talents. Now, the question is “how such a purposeful and talented/gifted people go hungry?” I don’t say because we are lazy! Such is the extent that poverty took us. Since, we don’t have an opportunity and no one is willing to give us a try, our talents and gifts are draining away each day in the street. Who will hire us, when our Resume doesn’t mentioned our work experience, except one is really smart! Because of such requirement, we started to mention many things in our Resume just to impress the interviewer. We are not wholly to be blame for that? “They” make us do that. Sometimes, we are not sure of what we are really good at! By rediscovering ourselves, our sense of direction will be clear. If we know ourselves better and able to excel in what we are good at, due recognition is sure to come.

Can we imagine God is delighted while His people and His whole creation are languishing in this harsh reality of poverty? No! God forbid. In fact Jesus, Son of God, was sent for the poor and sick. One might say, Bible is talking about in spiritual term and many Christian romanticize sufferings and poor as something to be cherish as one good Christian should be. They sound like escapist to me! Of course we have to do something so that poor will have food to eat and clothes to wear, so that sick will have doctors to attend and medicine to heal their sickness. God works this way. There are only few in this world who will sincerely say “thank you Lord” in the midst of such cruelty of poverty. Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. One way of looking at this portion that those who called “Lord, Lord” and not really mean it; they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. If we are really thankful to God for being in such poverty, nothing further I can go. But when our heart is really yearning for a decent food and clothes and we don’t have it, we should be addressing God in right way that is true to our heart for God sees our heart and not out lips. There are several passages in the Scripture telling us that caring for the poor is the very intrinsic nature of God:
Defender of the fatherless and widows (Deut. 10:18; Psalm 10:16-18; 40:17, 68:5; Jeremiah 22:16)
Protector of the poor (Psalm 12:5)
Rescuer of the poor (I Sam 2:8, Psalm 35:10, 72:4, 12-14, Isaiah 19:20, Jeremiah 20:13)
Provider of the poor (Psalm 68:10, 146:7, Isaiah 41:17)
Savior of the poor (Psalm 34:6, 109:31)
Refuge of the poor (Psalm 14:6, Isaiah 25:4).
Human being sometimes lie if not always. But God can never be lie. God is not like our Government or politicians who make lots of promises and never happen and even if happen, it has to be near the election. We have a numerous reference in the Scripture where poor or poverty is the agenda of God.

Now going further, is it sin to be wealthy? Or is it dreaming of becoming rich a sin? Many times friends and well wishers will simply assert “depends”! Well, my answer is yes and no. Yes, IF our motives of getting rich is to get ride of our neighbors, friends, or our enemy. Yes, IF our focus is shifting from God to money; when our primary becomes our secondary. No, IF our motives are have better life, not necessarily competing our neighbor. No, if our motives are to build up our people and the community. No, IF our conscience if free from guilt in having wealth. No, IF the way of accumulating wealth is fare and not at the cost of others dearly. When we are in poverty, other vices also come along such as robbery, killing, and hatred etcetera etcetera.
Now, how do we start these processes of healing, change of attitude, reforming and rediscovering our self? It must begin from us, the youth. Bible say in II Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. {Which...: Heb. upon whom my name is called}
First we called upon the name of the Lord, affirming His Lordship over us, identifying in His kingdom. Secondly, humbling ourselves before Him. It is not enough to humble before God, it is easy in compare to our fellowmen. Humbling ourselves means to our fellowmen too. Thirdly, pray! We thought “calling upon His name” and “humbling ourselves” happen only during prayer! God is telling us to call upon His name and be humble to Him and to our fellowmen as an attitude of our lives. John R. Rice, evangelist and founder of Sword of the Lord ministry, once said “prayer moves the hands of God”. What a powerful way to move the hands of our God. Fourthly, seek my face, meaning seeking God. We lost focus on God when so many things are to be done. We need to seek His face, meaning seeking His will, being aware of His presence in all circumstances. Now, we thought, we’ve done enough to call upon His attention! We still lack one more thing and this is very important. “Turn from their wicked ways”, we can call, humble, pray and even seek His face but we also need to do away with our old sinful ways. We have to renounce our wicked ways. Old habits are hard to die! But if we are determine to bring change and want to step in to the future with hope, we must comply with the conditions the Scripture has laid down for us. If we do so, God said, “then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. So be it.