Poverty as defined by the Oxford dictionary is: “A state of being poor; devoid of necessities”, however poverty is not only restricted to poverty of necessity only rather it transcends the classical definition of poverty as it entails poverty of character, intellect, will and morality. Poverty is embedded in our daily lives in more than one ways and only those of us who can see beyond our noses can discern one form of poverty from another.

To understand the real meaning of poverty we need to dig deep to discover the poverty that consumes our daily lives which is like gazing at the sun, an act which is rather painful. Whilst the book of proverbs tells us “Poverty of the poor is their ruin” but the conventional wisdom tells us that “It is only the poor who do not beg”. Poverty of necessity is not only dwarfed by the power of character and morals. Poverty of character is not limited to a class, sect. or a tribe; it is germane to all classes and creed, it is the worst kind of poverty that one can be inflicted upon by the Providence. Poverty of character is closely followed by the poverty of speech and thought. We have witnessed numbers of societies and cultures which once thrived, only to be obliterated due to poverty of thought and speech. The Roman Empire is a perfect example. So when we talk of poverty we should not restrict ourselves to the famine stricken areas in Africa or areas pulverized by perpetual conflicts, we should also consider the moral impotency of the so called “First World” which is actually responsible for poverty in the real sense of the world.

In the end economic poverty is the only the beginning, the tip of the iceberg; the actual problem lies with the hypocrisy, double-standards, inability and lack of will on part of the rest of the world which tantamount to moral and intellectual poverty leading to the economic poverty and that my dear readers is how the cookie crumbles.