The internet is a beautiful place. Every day, we come across several heartwarming stories of people who overcame the challenges life threw at them.
These stories go viral as ‘inspiring’. True, they are. But most of us fail to realise that the struggles that come with poverty are not to be romanticised. If you look around, romanticisation of poverty is everywhere.
Teachers romanticise their students’ struggles, CEOs do that for employees, celebrities take advantage of poor people’s living conditions and so on. Maybe because it is appealing to see and show the world how the poor can cope on their own.
Recently someone shared screenshots from an Instagrammer’s account, who visited the slums in Mumbai and used their pics for aesthetics.
There are poor kids in these images who do not have access to basic education. There are women who struggle to lead a hygienic life. There are men who are not sure if they can feed their families every single day.
The Instagrammer is being called out for using poor people’s struggles and living conditions to her advantage.
Is it really so difficult to understand that there’s nothing beautiful about poverty? No one would ever want to lead a life where they struggle to get their basic needs.
It’s true that the economic gap between the rich and poor is only increasing in the world. But it seems that the physical and geographical gap is narrowing, thanks to social media trends and the need to get likes and attention.
Do celebs and other Instagrammers find it charming when they hear about the struggles of impoverished people?
I can go on and on to prove that nobody, no living being, deserves to work tirelessly to earn the right to live. But for now, I’ll leave you with some questions.
Why are they leading such lives? What is the root cause? And what we, who are in better positions, can do to help them, instead of using them to our advantage?