The Wealthy, the Poor, and the Filipinos (part 1)

“The rich getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.” How many of you have heard of this statement? This is probably the most common statement that I have ever heard between the rich and the poor. (Thanks ADB)

How about this, have your heard of this statement? 

“If you ever redistribute the wealth of the world evenly to all the people, within 5 years it will be back to the same people who had it before… the rich people will keep doing what they learned on how to build wealth, and the poor will do whatever they’ve been doing before.” (I’m paraphrasing this)

Even though an average Filipino dreams of becoming rich, does he even deserve to be wealthy? Does he/she have the mindset of becoming rich or does it only exist in his dreams? There have been reports that there were squatters that were relocated and were given land titles but to only to sell the land titles and to squat again. What’s wrong with this picture?

The stigma of becoming rich
"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." (Luke 6:20)
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3)

Being a dominant Catholic country, the church have for some reason has driven home to those who are poor that becoming rich is a bad thing. More often they would quote the first statement by Luke. This is truly unfair, because once they hear this, they could care less and go into that “Bahala na” mentality. The poor will think that by just being poor that’s enough to be in the kingdom of God. This is non-sense. The poor also has this idea that all rich people must be bad and have created their wealth from ill-gotten ways, because they have only been exposed to those who have created their wealth this way.

Poor people want to get rich… quick!
Many Filipinos have become victims in quick rich schemes, thanks to the internet and promises of a great payout. Even high profile names have become victims of such schemes.

I’m also sure you heard of people of becoming big lottery winners. Only to fall victim of being rich fast, too fast… many people especially the poor are not mentally prepared to become rich. This is not only true in the Philippines but true throughout the world. Within several years, they are broke again.

"Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathereth by labor shall increase." (Proverbs 13:11)