Is Poverty a Choice?

I think that poverty is something one is born into. But I also think that there is a time in each person's life where they can choose something better for themselves. Opportunities exist for everyone. The chance to work somewhere, the chance to go to school, the chance to get out of a bad situation. The problem is when people have no encouragement to do any of these things. It seems so simple to us, do this and you'll live like that. That's what most of us have been told growing up. Succeed, succeed, succeed. But what if no one told us we had a choice? Or that every choice we made had a consequence? What if no one is pushing them to make the right choice or even a choice at all? From an outside perspective things are black and white, but nobody's life is as clear as that. I also think that people can live with glimpses of poverty. That they can be comfortable one minute and then have an empty fridge the next. And people like that also have choices that have put them back into a bad position. Your mother has a good job, but doesn't make good decisions, and this week you only ate lunch twice. In this case, poverty was a choice.