The most common answer you will get from people if you ask them why they work will be to overcome poverty.
Poverty is the absence of purchasing power. The fact that one can not afford the things they want or even need puts them in the hustle mode.
But what will happen if everyone is poor?
Poverty can not exist without wealth. You can not tell if someone is poor without using a rich person as a unit of measurement. It is because Mr. A can not afford the meal Mr. B can but goes for a meal of lower quality, that we say Mr. A is poor.
How then will we know that we are all poor? There's no one wealthier than the other so the word 'poor' might not be used to describe our financial state. But I was asked to write about what will happen if everyone is poor, so here goes.
If everyone is poor, there would be no absolute power because wealth brings absolute power. The knowledge that one can afford a lifestyle, or belongs to a certain class that others can not belong to because they do not have the purchasing power brings some level of pride.
Dare I say if everyone was poor, pride will not exist? Everyone will be humble. The popular Nigerian saying in our colloquial language 'life no balance' will not exist because poverty will balance the scale for everyone. Maybe this will bring about the equality that human rights activists have been demanding.
Everyone will be dependent on the other for something of need. This might result to trade by barter, the ancient way of trade. Resources will not be controlled by a particular person or group of persons. This might result in socialism, where the means of production, distribution, and exchange will be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
This will mean that everyone will be paid equally regardless of what they do and everyone will afford the same quality of things. Then, there will be less dispute, no need for competition, and no form of oppression whatsoever. Life will be boring because I think competition, a healthy competition I must add, makes living interesting.
On the bright side, all forms of material oppression will not exist. There will be no need to show off because, who are you showing off to my dear? We will all have the same brand of wear, eat the same quality of meals, and live in the same kind of houses. The word 'trenches' will not exist. Lol. Now, that will be a great equalizer.
Would anyone want to work hard if we were all poor? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if one's hard work will not yield any extra results, what is the use? It's like saying no matter how well students read for a test, they will not score above a D. Why stay up all night to read then? You could just read the morning before the exam and waltz into the hall and write what you know. The results will always be exactly the same anyways.
Also, will theft be non-existent? I mean, why would you steal from someone who does not have more than you do?
However, this might not be the case. Broke people can rob broke people too. According to Alan W. Watts, human desires tend to be insatiable. Greed, an excessive and extreme desire for something, often more than one's proper share may abound. People will want to take more than they have and this will end up disrupting the socialist state.
However, one of the flip sides to this, because there are a lot, is that nothing in this world is evenly distributed and that is why everyone cannot be poor.
All pictures are originally mine
Edited with canva
