Here, Let Me Help You Up [Final Essay]

In this world, there are two types of people. A giver and a taker. For years, religion and philosophy have given us the benefit of the doubt in believing that giving is a better "pay off" than receiving. "Pay off" was a poor choice of words.  As the years went on our lifestyle, the American lifestyle, didn't find the "pay off"  of giving quick enough, or at least not as quick as it was to simply just take. Unfortunately the most powerful people in this country are nothing more than professional "takers". In the book, The Rich and The Rest of Us, by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, they discuss the problems of economic structures with this country. The problem with this country is that the most powerful people lack compassion for their fellow American people. The strongest educated, most superb intellects in this country would rather invest their time on money before people. Businesses here have forgotten that a job isn't just a task being completed, but that it is a person being supported from it. In this country, people have either forgotten what love is or our society never wanted us to see what it was.
In America, many of us believe that if you are poor its because you are to blame. When you are poor, it is because you don't know what to do with your money, you spend it on stupid stuff or you simply aren't someone that can be trusted with a dollar. This idea creates an assumption that promotes prejudice against the poor. In the book, they tell how, "We first judge and ask questions later. It's not that the system is is unjust or inhumane; too many of us believe that there is something innately wrong with the poor"(122). Rather than assume, we should think. We must think if this person is just poor because of the unfortunate event of a lay off or any other uncontrollable financial dilemma. We should not judge. When we become prejudice to the the lesser fortunate, we forge an ignorance from our arrogance that has us believe that some people just aren't worthy of help or of attention. More than half the time, someone isn't even impoverished because of the stereotypical reasons, someone is poor poor because they had lost their jobs or had some problems with the bank. Everyone deserves to see the evidence of the existence of love. The concerns of people in this county should start to focus on the concerns of people in this country. We mustn't judge, for the same reason someone is in poverty is the same reason anyone can be in poverty.
If you were to ask a student in a high class university, why are they in school, it isn't too likely that they would tell you that they aim to make that difference in this world. That is one of the biggest problems in this country today, it is that that best thinkers, strongest educated students take their brains to the corporations before they give them to the people. They prefer to have a capital advantage in this world, rather than finding a way to help their fellow man. In the book, they explain how, "Over 90 percent of Finnish teachers are unionized, and the top graduates of Finland's universities become teachers rather than investment bankers"(118). We should have more people in this country that are concerned for how their fellow man is doing, rather than themselves. We live in this country under a "survival of the fittest" mentality. This mentality eclipses the idea of unity. It keeps us from wanting to help each other. Its like the able bodied racing the crippled, and the abled bodied chooses to win the race rather than to help everyone get to the finish line. Unity and equality should be the idea when it comes to success, not "I'm better than you".
Another problem here is that greed has overpowered compassion. In this country, during the recession, many people lost their jobs because it was either taken over by some machine or given to someone overseas. The corporates are to blame for this. It was their greed that overcame their sense of ethics and forced them to lack compassion for their fellow man. In the book, they express how "Corporate fat cats don't see people; they see numbers-as in huge salaries and bonuses for saving money...making profits"(131). Many corporations have replaced their employees for other forms of capital, not necessarily because its a better alternative, but because their profits would increase. The problem with them is that they no longer viewed their employees as people with jobs, but as jobs with people that are in the way. It was a task, checklist, complete perspective that completely ignored the employee as a human. They ruthlessly took their jobs away without care. Corporations need to see the that an economy was developed, not as a game, but actually was meant to ensure that everyone did something for everyone else and by replacing people with other types of capital defeats the purpose of an economy. Without a job, the person has no income, cannot buy, cannot provide.
We must remember that an economy is not a game. We must not play against each other in game where someone's luck can be capitalized. We must erase the greater than and lesser than signs, and think equal. The corporal powers should notice that their bucket is overflowing, while others are going through drought. We should learn to use our academic advantages like a machete, not as weapons for defeating each other, but as a tool to get everyone through. Without compassion, we are nothing more than savages worried about our self while the others go hungry. Without compassion, you get this "survival of the fittest" mentality that is animalistic. We are people, and the ability to show love is a gift. To get to show love is the "pay off". The way this world works is fragile, so we mustn't take advantage of the people in it.