Poverty is a State of Mind, Part 1

Poverty is a state of mind, is an essay written by Bernhard Hare in 1958, Bernhard hare is a social worker, who has become a writer. Bernhard grew up in Leeds, where he has living under poor conditions as he also writes about. He grew up without money, but felt rich in the heart, when he was a little boy. But what happens when you get older and become aware of the economic situation you are in, Bernhard asks questions of what it is to be poor, if you are a millionaire, but have no one to share the money with. That it is a question of your state of mind according to Bernhard.

The text is very credible because Bernard writes about his own experience, it makes the text more reliable and understanding, the text gets bigger and sympathy for Bernhard grows. It is easy to compare Bernard’s life with your own, because he explains many items like his school, family and environment which is easy to compare with your own life. You get the feeling you are part of Bernard’s life when reading the text.

It is inspiring to read, about his parents, who were both on low wages, but also proud of what they did to get them through the day. “Both were on low wages, but botheration were proud of the fact that they paid their way through life.” This has motivated Bernhard when he became an adult, not to feel sorry for himself, and he got a working class mentality that gave him some tools that help him in his difficult struggles with life. Because of education, Bernhard has a much better start to grown up life than his parents had.

His Nan seemed to have had a very big influence on his childhood. She was there fore him, whenever his parents couldn’t be there: “Her door was always open to me while Mam and Dad were at work.” And his parents were probably at work most of the time, because they had to make it for a living. So he probably didn’t spend much time with his parents, but his Nan took care of him and was kind of a role model to him.

He writes about his admiration of her, and of his great love for his Nan. When Bernhard was a teenager, he took an education, he became aware of what it takes to not end up like his father. He tries to get a better and richer life than his parents, but at the same time the idea of an amount does not determine whether he is happy or not.

Although his education, Bernhard is still in an environment full of violence, alcohol and drugs. He shows a clear contrast between being poor and feeling short on luck. Money is not the way, but sometimes things hangs together.

“For the first 10 years of my life, I had little idea at we were poor. As father as I was occupide, we had warmth, love, shelter, enough to eat – EXCEPT towards the end of the week sometimes, as most got paid in cash on Fridays – and a safe community environment two run around and play in. “he did not feel poverty when he didn’t not know better, he was perhaps poor in martials, but he was rich in love in the form of his parents. His work as a miner was not always his way to happiness, often the other way around. Bernard’s conclusion that poverty is a state of mind, if you think you are poor, you are poor. If you think you are rich as he did when he was little, you are rich.