"Poverty Is A Behavioral Disorder"

Wow, there's a phrase that is sure to make some people see red.
"Poverty is a behavioral disorder."
It's a concise way of saying that there is a particular behavior pattern (or, perhaps, a set of behavior patterns) that, if eliminated, would have the effect of eliminating poverty.
Some people will immediately start screaming, "Elitism! Class warfare!"
The phrase would sound odious coming from some fat cat sitting in his inherited mansion, smoking a fifty dollar cigar, nodding smugly as his chins dribble pastry crumbs down the vest of his thousand dollar suit.
But how does it sound coming from a man who was born in Black Harlem, and who worked hard to build his own business, managing to sock away several million dollars in assets before the age of thirty?
Which man would we listen to?
People thinking politically will listen to whichever man is supporting the political stance that they have bought into.
And poverty has become accepted as a political issue.
It is not.
It is a personal issue.
When a poor family can't afford shoes for their kids, that's personal.
But they can afford a sixpack of beer. Don't you dare get into their personal business and tell them not to buy the sixpack, to save that money for shoes.
Don't even suggest that they cut back on cigarettes.
"Poverty is a behavioral disorder."
I don't know where that phrase originated, but I think I first read it on a blog, of sorts, at boortz.com, though maybe Boortz was quoting someone else. If he wants to take credit for it, he can have it.
But I do think the phrase should become a prominent debating point in our culture.
Because there is too much truth in it to ignore.
Because, in the vast majority of instances, poverty isn't something that just happens to you.
Because, even though a child can inherit it, it's an inheritance that the child can eventually give away, and choose not to pass on to his or her own children.
Yes, choose.
Ask anyone who has done it.
Anyone who has broken the chain.
They will tell you that poverty is a matter of choice.
Ask anyone who has chosen to remain in poverty and they will most likely tell you that it is a matter of bad luck.
Or racism.
Or being born under a bad sign.
Or the "unfairness" of capitalism.
Or a thousand other things, all of which have been overcome by someone else who chose not to be poor any longer.

Directionlessness

Adrift.
So many people seem to be living their lives "adrift."
"Drifter" used to mean a person who travels the country with no particular destination in mind. A hobo. A tramp. (Today, "Homeless," as if that were some kind of unavoidable affliction that "just happens" to people.)
But most people today seem to be Drifters in a different sense. Perhaps a metaphysical sense.
Directionless.
People need goals.
The Human Animal needs goals, has developed as a species that requires goals.
Do other animals have goals? Yes. Survival.
Is survival a goal of humans? It has become all but meaningless in most of the civilized world.
But that psychological need for goals is still hardwired into us.
And we're Directionless without them.
We atrophy.
We decay.
We become Couch Potatoes. ("Mouse Potatoes" for those of use that have replaced endless hours of watching TV with endless hours at our computers.)
I work with kids. They have no goals. They have been taught that they are too young to have goals.
They have been taught this by a generation or two of adults who are, themselves, Directionless.
Sure, they have a goal to make "passing grades." But that is a goal that has been foisted on them by others.
Just like most adults have a goal to keep their jobs. Or to make it to retirement.
But those are "passive goals."
A "passive goal" is a goal you wait for, or a goal to avoid an undesireable result.
Not really a goal. A hope. A wish. A whim.
So, what happens to a person without goals?
If it's an adult, an illustrative example can be seen on the street corners of many major cities holding up squares of cardboard displaying messages of distress written in magic marker.
If you want to see what happens to kids - take a close look at what passes for pop culture today.
Listen to Rap "music" for as long as you can stomach it.
The shortest poem I ever wrote was:

"The human race
Is lost in space."

To be directionless is to be lost.
When people speak of "finding themselves," they are sensing that "lostness," that Directionlessness.
It may be the most tragic malady of modern man.

Who needs a blog?

I don't.
And yet, the idea appeals to me enormously.
I remember hearing, "Who needs a telephone answering machine?" and "Who needs their own computer?" and "Who needs a cell phone?" as these things became available.
Like these and so many other things, the "need" seems to develop from the usage.
So here is my blog.
I will probably grow to need it.
At this point in time (October 9, 2005) I don't even know if I will ever show it to anyone.
I will probably write things on here that I don't want most of my loved ones, friends, acquaintances to read, ever.
We'll see. (We?)
Maybe I'll write things on here that I don't want the Government to read.
Or my Employer.
Or the local Religious Community.
Everyone seems to be one offensive remark away from becoming a witch-hunter/burner these days.
So, for now, here's where it all goes. On my blog.
Atlas Shrugged? [The original title of this blog was "Atlas Shrugged," my favorite book, and a nickname I have used online in other contexts.] Anyone familiar with the book will be able to see many of its reflections here.
Reflections, not Influence. As I read it the first time, it was as if I were discovering something that I myself had written and had then forgotten about; or, perhaps, reading something that I would write in the future.
Whatever the case, Atlas Shrugged, the book by Ayn Rand, represents something central to my intellectual existence.
So it is a fitting heading for a blog written by me.
Enjoy.