PEOPLE WHO DESERVE TO BE POOR

PEOPLE WHO DESERVE TO BE POOR

Patrice Lewis points to those who've achieved success despite circumstances

This week a reader sent a link to an article entitled “If You’re Still Poor at 35, You Deserve It.”
http://vulcanpost.com/7702/jack-ma-youre-still-poor-35-deserve

These startling words were apparently uttered by an entrepreneur named Jack Ma who is China’s richest man. Frankly, I’d never heard of this fellow until recently because, cocooned on our little farm, I pay very little attention to Internet entrepreneurs.

Mr. Ma says people lose out in life for four reasons:

being myopic to opportunity

looking down on opportunities

lacking understanding

failing to act quickly enough

Ma says that “You are poor, because you have no ambition.” He defines ambition as “living a life of great ideals; a magnificent goal in life that must be realized. In this world, there are things that are deemed unfathomable, but there is nothing in this world that cannot be done. The depth of one’s ambition determines the potential of one’s future.”

The article also highlighted the career path of Juliet Wu Shihong – “one of China’s first-generation professional managers, who gained success by working her way up the ranks from a cleaner, a nurse, a marketing executive, through self-education and learning on the job.”

Ms. Wu Shihong started at a large company at its lowest rank, pouring tea and sweeping floors. She dressed in shabby clothes and pushed a dirty push cart. One day she was humiliated by a company guard and thereafter vowed “never to allow herself to be shamed like this again, and to become world-famous.” She succeeded in these goals.

Ms Wu Shihong’s observations regarding poverty:

You are poor because you do not have the desire to become successful.

You are poor because you lack foresight.

You are poor because you cannot overcome your cowardice.

You are poor because you lack the courage and determination.

With ambition you can overcome all inferiority and maximize your potential.

With ambition you can persevere, continuously learn new things and strive for perfection.

With ambition you can defy all odds, and create miracles when others daren’t.

The article continues: “No matter how poor your family is, do not doubt your own abilities and lose sight of your ambition.

When your family deems you worthless, no one will pity you.

When your parents do not have money to pay the medical bills, no one will pity you.

When you are beaten by your competitors, no one will pity you.

When your loved ones abandon you, no one will pity you.

When you have not accomplished anything by the time you are 35, no one will pity you.”
The article concludes these case studies by heartlessly stating, “Go big, or go home. Otherwise, you’re wasting your youth.”

I don’t believe poverty is as cut-and-dried as this article makes out. There are circumstances beyond an individual’s control that could cause life-long poverty, ranging from personal (such as health issues) to national (an oppressive government).

Yet it’s hard to argue with the points, particularly when the case studies came from a repressive place like China. The proof, after all, is in the pudding. Everyone from Ben Carson to Star Parker to my own mother demonstrate that following these principles will indeed pull people out of the direst poverty. Ambition seems to be the key – a driving, focused ambition to escape privation.

Having never desired wealth as a life goal, I didn’t give this article much thought … at first. Yet it stuck in my mind and made me wonder: Can this advice apply to other ambitions besides achieving wealth?

Of course, it can. The article is not so much “how to become rich” as it is “how to escape poverty.” And make no mistake, poverty is a powerful motivator.

There are people all over the world who have risen above circumstances they deemed intolerable solely by the fruits of their own labor. My sister-in-law’s family came from Taiwan 30 years ago with literally nothing more than a suitcase apiece and the clothes on their backs. They are now homeowners, business owners, and all their children have college degrees. They are not rich, but they are no longer poor. They had the courage, determination and ambition outlined in the principles above to progress toward their goal; not a goal of wealth per se, but a goal of escaping the dire poverty and intolerable conditions they left behind. I have two other foreign-born sisters-in-law who came to America for similar reasons and from similar backgrounds, and who achieved similar success.

Yet we have endless people in this nation who are mired in poverty because they can’t or won’t apply these principles to their own lives. They have an entire litany of excuses, defenses and justifications; but the bottom line is, they don’t care enough to change their circumstances. It’s easier to stay where they are.

I know this sounds cruel and heartless. But if my sister-in-law’s parents can make it, and Ben Carson and his brother can make it, and countless others who come from the most hopeless and direst backgrounds can make it … why can’t everyone?

Juliet Wu Shihong had no education. She swept floors and poured tea. But once she had made up her own mind to change, she “was the first to arrive at work, and the last one to leave. She made every second count, spending her time learning the ropes.” Her career achieved stellar levels – not because of inherited money or a fancy education, but because she, herself, decided she would no longer be shamed for dressing in “shabby clothes and pushing a dirty push cart.”

Not everyone wants to be rich, but plenty of people want to change their circumstances. My husband and I never became wealthy, but that was not our ambition. Our goal was to leave the urban rat race behind and raise our children on a farm. We have achieved that goal.

Folks, this is still America. Goals and ambitions are still achievable. For all her faults, for all the legitimate complaints about an invasive government, there is still plenty of opportunity in this nation for people to change their circumstances and reach whatever goals they set.

Tell me your goals, then tell me how you’re going to get there. Once you’ve done that, half your battle is over.