There is a big difference between these two words and the two realities they represent. Although both seem to describe or characterize a state of poverty, that is not actually the case.
Being poor may have nothing to do with the amount of resources we have. We may be among the richest people in our community, yet be poor in spirit—not knowing how to enjoy life, always looking at things with a greed that clouds our thinking and our decisions.
That is the so-called harshest form of poverty. For there is nothing that can make us stop feeling poor. No matter how much we have, or how much we manage to acquire, we’ll always be looking at what others have, and we’re never satisfied with what we currently possess. It’s an endless cycle. Instead of building a shelter for difficult times, we end up constructing a prison with walls so high that we can’t even see the world around us.
And what is humility? Humility, on the other hand, is something everyone can possess. Being rich does not prevent us from being equally humble. Possessing great wealth may even make us more humble; although this path is more difficult, it is by no means impossible.
We should look at life with the humility of those who understand that nothing in it can be held onto by us. It never will be, and if we ever believe otherwise, one day—certainly one day—we will see that all of this is fleeting. Nothing we have today is forever. Not our life, not our time, not even our name or memory. One day, everything will be nothing more than a memory that is no longer recalled. It is merely a matter of time and scale.
If we know how to look at life holistically, we easily realize that everything we have, we always owe to someone else—to another person, to the circumstances, and to the factors that came together at that moment. We cannot assume that because we possess more than our neighbor, we have the right to subjugate or ridicule them.
I’ve noticed that, more and more often, many more people believe in a parallel reality—one that bears no resemblance to real life. And they think that religion is just an illusion, nonsense that only the weak-minded believe in, as a refuge from their most intrusive thoughts.
Religion gives meaning to life. Of course, it doesn’t replace the experience of living (pardon the redundancy), nor does it make those who believe in something superior to those who don’t believe or reject it. None of that happens. It simply makes it easier to trigger that inner journey of self-reflection.
Not being religious does not preclude a sense of inner humility, which connects us to our surroundings. Just like wealth. Possessing wealth does not make us worse people, or more insensitive, or less vulnerable.
It all depends on how we manage and carry out our internal processes, so that our existence—which, as we all know, is brief—may be more than just a succession of days that contribute nothing to the planet or to our neighbors.
Let us learn to be more humble and look around us. Just a few days ago, a country was shaken by a true catastrophe. Two major earthquakes struck the same region with tremendous intensity and violence, separated by less than a minute.
In one minute, the lives of all those who were directly affected—those who died, those who are missing, injured, or trapped in the rubble of a completely devastated city—changed completely.
It is practically impossible for someone like me, who has never gone through such a violent and traumatic experience, to put myself in their shoes.
But I can, however, show humility and accept that right now, I have my life, that I have a roof over my head to live and sleep under.
I should be grateful for these gifts and for the good fortune I have, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting more. Yet I always keep my focus on the main goal: to make life better—not just my own, but that of the people around me.
Image by Couleur from Pixabay
Original text written by 
