Are the Poor Lazy ━ 

Some hard-hearted people say that the poor deserve to be so because they are lazy. That thought is at the heart of our western democratic traditions, where we like to think that everyone has an equal opportunity and that laziness would be the only obstacle to personal economic opportunities. That may be true in some cases. But, there are many other reasons why people are poor. While it is a wonderful ideal, equal opportunity has never been achieved anywhere. Why? Poverty is also caused by oppression, taxation, unavoidable debt, usurious money lending, medical crises, disease, war, crime, unscrupulous business practices and other ills of this world. Greed and injustice are part of this life. Sometimes even honest, hard-working people become poor because dishonest people have oppressed or swindled them and taken their money. Maybe that's why Jesus said, "You will always have the poor among you." (John 12:1-11)