The security of poverty

Poor people have something they don’t want to lose: their entire lives.

When you’re one paycheck away from losing everything you have, the wolves at the door are whole lot more menacing. When you take a chance, even by going to school or applying to a new job, you feel as if you are literally risking everything.

This, in turn, makes the poverty you know appealing. You have enough to eat, enough to put a roof over your head, and enough to get by. When one of the alternatives is worse than the bad situation you’re already in, taking risks just seems crazy.

But the security of poverty is an illusion. It’s a way of making yourself happy with the things you already have at the cost of the things you might have.