Poverty, Neglect & The Trichotomous Man

I had a little drive yesterday to meet with a few juvenile probation officers.  I had the privilege to share with them my passion and vision for helping kids in all circumstances in life.  On my way to the meeting, some 2 hours away, I got to thinking about what I could say.  What would make an impact?  What would make a difference?  Then a thought ran through my head:  The two critical factors in life that could cause a student to wind up needing a probation officer are: POVERTY and NEGLECT.  In order to fully understand the impact of POVERTY and NEGLECT we must look at mankind as a trichotomous being: Physical Being, Intellectual Being, and Emotional Being.  When we consider these two premises together, we can fully understand how children, and humans in general, find themselves facing the worst days of their lives.  

Let’s take a look at the impact of POVERTY from the trichotomous perspective.  

POVERTY AND THE PHYSICAL BEING

Many children in our country are victims of physical poverty.  Most of our poor are unable to rise above its clutches to prosperity.  I have seen first hand what physical poverty can do to a person.  When a child is continually susceptible to physical poverty, several things can happen: (1) the child eventually accepts he/she will always be poor; (2) the child seeks for help from others to break the bondage of poverty; (3) the child finds the inner strength to work daily until he/she breaks the chains of poverty; or (4) the child resorts to a life of crime in order to free himself/herself from poverty.  

I am often reminded of something that Dr. Claire Ramsey said to me before she died.  She admonished me to provide for others the same opportunities that were provided to me once I had the ability to do so in life.  I was a young mother at the time.  I had recently lost my oldest son in a tragic car accident that forever changed all our lives in my immediate family.  And even though at the time, I didn't have the capacity to give, for I was in that moment a receiver of help from others, I remembered her words.  They are part of what drives my passion to help kids today.

POVERTY AND THE INTELLECTUAL BEING

Poverty doesn’t just come in the form of “lack of money.”  A child can have an impoverished capacity to learn due to lack of resources.  When our children do not have information and the opportunities to process the information needed to compete in our society, both domestic and global, our children are intellectually poor.  Our curriculum must provide the rigor to enable our children to become intellectually rich.  Some children have the privilege of growing in an intellectually rich environment; many simply do not.  

This is the reason I feel it is imperative that all our schools, public, private, and charter, must not stop finding ways to intellectually stimulate our impoverished students.  We cannot afford to accept below average or status quo from our students.  It would be an American death wish to do so.  Our survival in this fragile global economy depends on our students and their ability to be innovative critical thinkers in the present and in the future.  

POVERTY AND THE EMOTIONAL BEING

Perhaps this is the saddest poverty of all.  Our children need emotional support, and they need help in developing a healthy emotional

state of mind.  It is sobering to think of all the children and adolescents in this country who long for someone to care for them.  Children who are emotionally bruised and beaten have difficulties in regaining a healthy and rich emotional existence.  A child can live without the best clothes. A child can survive without knowing Calculus, but can a child survive with no one to love and support him/her?  Perhaps, but think of the path that child might take… And there you can see a clear road to the juvenile detention center as one strong option for that child.

I feel now more than ever our impoverished students need people who will care.  They need people who will invest time, money, and energy in their lives.  We do not need impoverished emotional youth living lives of desperation and hopelessness.  It serves no one for this to happen.  I want youth to know they are not emotionally poor around me.  I care, and I want to help them.  But I am not the only adult that will tackle the monstrous task.  There are many others who believe in the cause.  But we need more… And we need more NOW! We need to invest in our children’s emotional well-being.  

NEGLECT AND THE TRICHOTOMOUS BEING

I think by now we understand the problems with poverty in all areas of our children’s trichotomous being.  Neglect is no different.  Neglect can come in many different ways.  Abuse, abandonment, criticism, apathy, and indifference are a few words that come to my mind at this very moment.  I don’t want to be guilty of neglecting a child, or any human for that matter, in any of the various ways he/she could be affected by my actions, or lack thereof.  

I personally do not have the capacity at this time in my life to be a philanthropist, like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg.  I wish I did.  But I can devote my time, my personal abilities, and my passion to kids.  I can still help them in their own areas of growth in their physical realm of being.  I just need to consider my abilities and options for providing assistance.

I know that I can provide intellectual growth to students.  I create modules for kids to use to help them in career and college readiness.  I am creating more each working day to provide resources for students.  I also provide assistance with professional learning for teachers and administrators.  But I do know that I can do more.  I try to learn something new and fresh daily to share with others.  I have no excuse for not being part of a solution to combat intellectually poverty and neglect.  

Emotionally, I can work to “fill every bucket” I see.  I am reminded of Dr. Ann White’s analogy of “bucket filling” and “bucket dipping.”  It works wonderfully here.  People need encouragement every day.  They need someone to give them hope every day.  That’s something we all can do.  Even if my own life may seem emotionally challenged at times, I know I am loved.  I know I have a huge support group of family and friends.  I am truly blessed.  It is my duty as a person who has experienced emotional abundance of support from others to share.  In sharing it will not lessen my own emotional richness; it will only add to it.  

CONCLUSION

I have presented two areas of potentially harming agents in our society today with the capacity to inhibit our kids from thriving.  The challenge for each of us who read these words is to decide what we will personally do to block those inhibitors from destroying our kids.  There are at least three realms that need our assistance: physical, intellectual, and emotional. There must be something that each of us can do to help with at least one realm. What will you do?