Poverty and The Existing Gap Between The Rich and Poor

More often than not, human is required to look after each other in times of crisis. However, this role changes at an individual level where some feel that this should not be termed as a responsibility but an act of will. This brings about the conflict between individuals and the society. The society on its side views such things as inequality, justice and morality as some of the most critical aspects that humans should have feelings for against the individual view where they see it as a personal decision. Despite the many counterarguments that have been posed against justice, morality and equality, we should learn that each one of them applies to every individual in the world regardless of whether they believe in them or not. This leaves everyone to wonder, should justice, morality and equality be a way of life for every individual and society?

The world currently is full of cries with every person yelling about poverty. Many people have been struck by the catastrophe, and this calls for help from all corners of the world to defend humanity. Martha Nussbaum in her writing recognizes poverty as something that needs the attention of everyone in the world. She recognizes that many disciplines in the world have concentrated some much on evaluating poverty and how to bring it to an end (Martha, p99). She argues that the situation has enough weight that needs to be recognized and studied in several other disciplines like philosophy which call for reasoning and critical thinking on the best path to follow. Here, the paradigm of capabilities approach comes in to evaluate human development. Poverty has been recognized as one of the commonly discussed topics which tends to question social justice in the world.

With the gaps existing between the rich and the poor, many governments have been seen to focus so much on national economic growth and overlooked the reality of life lived by real people (Martha, p99). Through this, victims of social injustice have spread across the world in areas such as East Bengal due to lack of necessities such as medical care, food and shelter (Peter, p229). As if human life does not matter, many rich nations such as the UK have been seen to inject large amounts of funds in infrastructure development with countries such as China suffering from poverty. This gives an implication that such developed nations value their economic and infrastructural development more than the lives of the many refugees in the camps suffering from the lack of basic needs. (Peter, p230).

With so much in hand, the question of whether humans are really just to each other has continued to linger in the minds of many people and especially those of various philosophers and writers who have always tried to bridge the gap between the diverse ideas of how humans should handle each other in terms of being just, morally upright and how to inflict equality on all humans. The diversities that exist in human life should rater be studied, and a common ground is created to bring about the most conducive world for humans to live in. The basic ideas of justice should be spread to a global level since the implementation of justice needs a broader perspective (Martha, p99). Justice and morality are always intertwined. Some degree of morality is always required for one to be just. It would be wise for every human to always prevent bad things from happening since the occurrence of such would always affect other humans. It would, therefore, be unjust and immoral to sit and watch as others suffer over issues that we could have prevented. This requires us to prevent what is bad without necessarily promoting what is good and without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance (Peter, p231). However, this requires us to be self-reliant and to live a life without depending on the help of the others (Emerson and Ralph, p90).

The extent to which one should go in doing good things has no limitations. It even calls for the government to change policies to ensure that the life of real people has been protected. The broader perspective of the government to deal with the economic crisis and subjecting the value of life to figures and tables is not the way. Issues such as GDP should be evaluated from a different perspective from the way human life is evaluated. Rather, real stories of real people like Vasanti should be considered which allows for the existing problems to be evaluated thus allowing sustainable and efficient solutions to the problems to be found (Martha, p100). Evaluation of problems and seeking solutions is a good way of explaining moral justice. For example, observers, experts and supervisors sent to curb famine by famine relief organizations can set a foundation that so many people that are affected by famine rely on from all geographical areas of the world. It does not matter the part that has been struck by the catastrophe since the importance of human life is universally critical. It would, therefore, be immoral and unjust to discriminate people on geographical grounds (Peter p232).

Nonetheless, there are theories that define people as a human resource which is an odd antithesis to capabilities approach. Capabilities approach is involved in comparative quality of life assessment where basic social justices are theorized (Martha, p100). This evaluates what each person in a society can do or to be and the opportunities that are available to each person (Martha, p100). Most of the people in the world have several opportunities and resources to improve the well-being of the others in the world. For example, most of the people rather than buying clothes to keep them warm tend to buy clothes to look good. The money that was used to buy such clothes could be used to assist the other humans that are suffering in different parts of the world like the refugees in Bengali. This can also be compared to an individual who is torn between jumping into a pod to save a drowning kid just because there are other people at the same distance that he is and also because there is a possibility of his clothes becoming muddy and wet on the process. Saving a life at such an instance is far more important than waiting for the others to do it since most of those that would be present at such an instance would be reluctant to do so.

The element of reluctance makes the moral obligations of each human to be questionable. Another opportunity that each one of us has is parting with a few coins that would be miscellaneous compared to what we have. These few bucks can then be used to provide for the needs of the people that are suffering in the other parts of the world without the capability of helping themselves. As long as the organizations that are receiving these funds are not private, people and governments should view helping the others as their responsibility.

The issue of duty and charity has always been confused. People are always not able to understand when they are supposed to give to charity and when they are supposed to carry it as a responsibility. The confusion has been brought about by the upsetting of the traditional moral categories. (Peter, p235). This is because humans mostly depend on each other. No one knows when problems will strike and when they will need help from the others. Taking it as a responsibility to assist those in need would be a rather easier thing than seeing it as a charity affair where one has to choose whether to give or not to. However, it is argued that human choices are the key to understanding poverty (Martha, p101). In comparison to two people with one lacking food and the other one being on the process of fasting, one is suffering because he cannot help himself out while the other one has decided to remain hungry. The two people are also considered to have different capabilities. This indicates that the fatality of poverty can be expressed when the victims are subjected to the condition which enables them to express their talents (Martha, p101). A life full of dignity is considered to have substantial content and also translated into human life. The ten central capabilities are most important in the life of every human being (Martha, p101).

In conclusion, humans should consider what is best for each one of them and chip into their lives to offer assistance. As this is being done, none of them should relax and wait to be assisted (Emerson and Ralph, p102). People should exploit their capabilities and talents in every way possible which enables them to evade many problems that would make them depend on the others. Preventing the happening of bad things should be considered as a moral responsibility of each one of us. This would then make humans be just to each other thus making justice, morality and equality to be a way of life.