I read on Jasdeep’s blog that today is blog action day, and so I’m jotting some stuff down.

Everybody seems to be vaguely aware of some supposed link between stress and illness, but I never see people considering the ramifications. A few years ago I read The Status Syndrome by Michael Marmot. He argues that life in a society with a big distance between the top and bottom is toxic to the people at the bottom. In other words, feeling like you occupy a low rung on a social ladder slowly kills you.

So, here’s what I want to say about poverty. Poverty isn’t the state of living without modern conveniences. It is the mental state that comes from too much anxiety, desperation, and hopelessness.