These are the things I believe in:
Hurricane Katrina didn't expose anything. Hurricane Katrina was just a spark. All those images of crumbling houses, people on their porches as the roof crumbled and the muck floated up the stairs-- it was all there if you stopped to look. The things is, no one had stopped to look. No one sees poverty until it shows up on their television screen before dinner, or on the radio and in their newspaper before the morning commute. And it rarely does.
Not everyone gets their fair share. Schools aren't created equal. Small business owners don't have the same access to capital and resources that corporations do. And people say it over and over again, but it's true; the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The gap is growing. And there is such a thing as a fair share.
It is possible to end poverty. One gesture at a time, one person at a time. Schools can help, community groups and neighborhood organizations and local companies are part of the puzzle, too. It's not easy, certainly, but it is possible.
These are the things I don't:
Capitalism, by definition, leaves some people behind. Poverty is a question of simple economics, and some people just end up losers.
People are poor because they're lazy.
People are poor because they have too many kids and don't educate them and smoke crack and then send their kids out on the streets to sell drugs to make more money to smoke more crack.
People are poor because they choose to be poor.
Poverty is too big a problem to tackle all at once.
My name is Yobie. Welcome to and my blog. I am an immigrant born into poverty in the Philippines. I arrived in California about 25 years ago. I'm no longer poor, I'm a tech geek and an entrepreneur. Silicon Valley has been good to me. I want to give back. I want to meet the people who are tryong to make a difference and the organizations that support their work. I want to be involved with companies that are committed to their employees, to their communities and to a socially responsible profit. I want to end poverty.
Stay tuned.
Hurricane Katrina didn't expose anything. Hurricane Katrina was just a spark. All those images of crumbling houses, people on their porches as the roof crumbled and the muck floated up the stairs-- it was all there if you stopped to look. The things is, no one had stopped to look. No one sees poverty until it shows up on their television screen before dinner, or on the radio and in their newspaper before the morning commute. And it rarely does.
Not everyone gets their fair share. Schools aren't created equal. Small business owners don't have the same access to capital and resources that corporations do. And people say it over and over again, but it's true; the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The gap is growing. And there is such a thing as a fair share.
It is possible to end poverty. One gesture at a time, one person at a time. Schools can help, community groups and neighborhood organizations and local companies are part of the puzzle, too. It's not easy, certainly, but it is possible.
These are the things I don't:
Capitalism, by definition, leaves some people behind. Poverty is a question of simple economics, and some people just end up losers.
People are poor because they're lazy.
People are poor because they have too many kids and don't educate them and smoke crack and then send their kids out on the streets to sell drugs to make more money to smoke more crack.
People are poor because they choose to be poor.
Poverty is too big a problem to tackle all at once.
My name is Yobie. Welcome to and my blog. I am an immigrant born into poverty in the Philippines. I arrived in California about 25 years ago. I'm no longer poor, I'm a tech geek and an entrepreneur. Silicon Valley has been good to me. I want to give back. I want to meet the people who are tryong to make a difference and the organizations that support their work. I want to be involved with companies that are committed to their employees, to their communities and to a socially responsible profit. I want to end poverty.
Stay tuned.
posted by Yobie Benjamin at 2:30 PM
4 Comments:
Yobie, I heard about you and GoodStorm because we were mentioned in the same blog... Would love to connect via email.. tom @ givemeaning dot com
Great blog, thank you! You're right, the rich-poor gap is getting wider. I don't know why 'rich' people don't think about the poor. There are ads on TV about international poverty (sponsor-a-child ads), there is info on the TV news about poverty. Is it just that people somehow don't see these things, or understand these things, or bother to care about these things? Do most people have to live in poverty to have empathy for the poor? It's frustrating. I've never been poor but I understand that the lifestyle I choose, the decisions I make, affect other people. I understand that I need to account for how I live, because eliminating poverty can be done. Bono said "this is not about charity, this is about justice". I agree. I think fighting poverty is every persons responsibility. It is not something extra, something 'noble', that a few super-good people choose to do. For me, I just feel so lucky that basically by chance I was not born into poverty. I feel like each person who is in poverty could have been me.
Hello my name is tammy jo- i am new to this site so bear with me. I am trying to figure out how it all works. I guess I will start by saying, I saw Tom on the Hour, and I was greatly moved by this idea of Give meaning.com I came on the site and found Yobie's sight about End Poverty. The thoughts I have been having about all of this have been going through my mind since seeing the show, which I love! Great job George! Anyway here are my thoughts and i hope we can respond to one another on this topic and maybe others too. When I flip channels on Tv to find something to watch i am bombarded with so many shows with names like " Finding love for ..." I hope you know which ones I mean. They seem so senseless and it makes me feel like so many people do not have a clue as to what is important to all of us as fellow human beings. Couldnt we have some reality shows that maybe show how runaways and teenagers live on the streets because of troubles or being orphaned or maybe even being taken advantage of- not news programs or informercials but reality!! Another thought is how about following a homeless family who try to survive day to day living because they cant find work or if they do work they cannot afford housing. There are so many shows about building brand new homes or flipping homes- is there not someway we could help homeless people benefit from these programs, say as Homes for Habitat do- which they do good, but still need more help. No offense to Extreme Home Makeover because I truly believe they help above and beyond for helpless, downhearted and down and out people- Kudos to your show. Anyway sorry for going off topic. Lets do some Real Reality!! I agree with what the blog says about people only realizing the affects of poor people during times of disaster or times of catastrophes. Are we not all human beings and cannot we help more often? I know we can!! The old saying says it takes a village to raise a child- well it takes alot of people to raise poor helpless, starving children everywhere. And if its one thing I know we have in America is alot of children and alot of people, there is enough good people willing to help- we just need to make it happen somehow. I dont want to get biblical but this is a wonderful chapter and verse from the bible- It is called Jeremiahs Cry (Jeremiah 5:19-22) o, how I hurt, how I hurt! I am bent over in pain. O, the torture in my heart, my heart is pounding inside of me. I cannot keep quiet because I have heard the sound of the trumpet. I have heard the shouts of war. Disaster follows disaster. The whole country has been destroyed... How long must I look at the war flag? How long must I listen to the war trumpet? The Lord says ' My people are foolish- they do not know me... they do not understand. They are skillful at doing evil, but they do not know how to do good.' /Note: Jeremiah was a prohet who was very sad to see how his world was falling down around him, he was referred to as the prophet who wept./ i myself feel like weeping when I think of such things as poverty, and suffering. There has got to be a way to get people to pay attention and if they do not, thats okay, but I know there are alot of great, "Good People" out there like Yobie, and amelia and friends. Lets come together and figure something out! How does that sound? Remember no one is poor who has friends , so please consider me a friend. Thanks for reading and hope to talk more about this soon. Your friend, Tammy Jo- MN
Hi. Its good to know your still around and quite successful at that pare. There is only one Yobie I know. And he was a schoolmate of mine back in Mass Comm at UP.
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