Is Poverty Man-made or Life Happens?

Greetings to you my beloved friends. Trusting God you all are doing good? By the special Grace of God, I'm doing good too. Thanks to @bossj23 for organizing this thought-provoking contest on poverty. Truth be told, for the past two days that I came across this contest, I've been having a serious debate with my own self if poverty is really man-made or life happens.

I've come to realize that it can be either ways. Either life happened to you or you caused it yourself. Kindly take a seat and reason with me as we analyze poverty and what causes poverty. I think we can thereafter deduce if it's mainly man-made or most times it's a result of some natural factors that are beyond our control.

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Is poverty and not having money the same thing?

I wouldn't say not having money is poverty. It's very possible that you might not have liquid cash but yet you've got assets, you've got investments and you are living well, you have the basic amenities you need. So, poverty shouldn't be about one not having money.

According to Adams Smith who is regarded as the father of Economics, he said, "man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessities, the conveniences and the amusement of human life".

From the statement above, one can deduce that poverty is not really not having money but rather, it is the insufficient supply of resources that are very important for an individual to maintain himself and those dependants upon him in good health and strength.

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Do you think poverty is man-made or sometimes life made it happen? Mention two main causes of poverty in your country

As I earlier stated, it could be either ways. Some are man-made whereas, in some cases, life happens. Let's look at some major causes of poverty and from there, we'll see if we can categorically state whether it's man-made or life happened.

The two major cause of poverty in my country Nigeria include:

1. Unemployment:
2. Poor income

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Give a life experience to justify that poverty if either man-made or situations in Life cause it

Hmmmmmm...... I've got so many life experiences to give based on life causes and man-made. But I will mention just a few here.

1. I'm not sure I will forget the COVID-19 era anytime soon. During this period, a lot of companies had to downsize their staff just to be able to continue operations as a lot of economic activities collapsed during that time. I remember vividly a bank here in Nigeria that downsized a lot of her employees. A staff couldn't cope with the reality of life and resorted to commiting suicide. We have a lot of similar incidence like her.
2. Government policies: Nigeria, we saw so many companies folding up due to some harsh government policies that crippled the nations economy. A lot of multi-national companies left the country in less than 2 years that this new government came to power. So many persons' lost their means of livelihood cos they were out of jobs and went back to square zero.
3. Gambling: Ha ha ha ha...... You see this very one? It's a destiny snatcher. Run from it ooooooo. If you must gamble, gamble for fun and not with the intention of wanting to become rich. This reminds me of a friend who had to drop out of school cos he has been using his tuition fee, upkeep money and rent allowance to gamble.

Amongst so many, these are just but a few on the list.

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Someone refuses to scam people to make a fortune and elevate himself from poverty. Will you say the person is the reason he's still poor or will you say he's being content with the poverty? Justify your answer

My Dad will always tell me, if you must leverage on someone's sweat just to become rich, then it is better for you to remain poor. He always encouraged us to be hardworking and prayerful. Aside telling us that there's dignity in labour, he said God blesses a hand that is engaged. God's time is the best, yes, but you have to engage your hands for God to bless the works of your hands.

Finally, I want to leave us with this quote by Mahatma Gandhi. He once said, "poverty is the worst form of violence"

I'm inviting my friends @vickyson @owulama @ashley-p to also give their insight on whether poverty is man-made or life happens?