Should Poverty Be Embarrassing?

Is it our fault if we’re rich or poor and should there be a stigma?

Photo by Steve Knutson on Unsplash

I’ve just read a post on Facebook. A mum had two tickets to a kids event that they could no longer go to. She wanted to gift them to someone else who was struggling financially. That’s nice, I thought. Helping someone out in difficult times. The first comment was a lady who said that she was struggling financially and went on to explain exactly why she was struggling with money.
I thought that was awful, that to receive these free (unwanted) tickets she had to tell everyone in that group how poor she was and why. What had led to her being in this difficult situation. Why can't we just be compassionate to people without attaching strings? It is very un-British. We have a saying, ‘don’t air your dirty washing in public’ which is a complicated way of saying ‘don’t show people the bad things that are happening to you’. A bit like putting on a brave face in public.

Then I thought about it a bit more. Why shouldn’t that lady tell people her story? She hadn’t done anything wrong. Yes, she’s poor at the moment, but that’s not her fault. She’d had some difficult and unpredictable things happen to her. Why shouldn’t she be honest about a situation that isn't her fault?