Have you ever seen a person prematurely aged by poverty?

Whenever I go to the supermarket closest to my house I always see a lady standing by the entrance/exit who smokes and likes to talk to everybody going in and out of the store. I naturally assumed that she was an employee on her smoke break whenever I saw her but I learned yesterday that she is unemployed and has had a very hard life. She looks like how a woman in her 50s or 60s should look--she is kind of jowly with greying hair, wrinkles cutting furrows in her cheeks and sunken eyes, etc--but she is only 38! I couldn't help feeling a tinge of empathy for her. It was quite a feeling.

However, if she abuses meth I have no remorse for her whatsoever other than a bit of hatred for that evil drug that messed her up so bad.

Have you ever seen a person prematurely aged by poverty?

Drugs and poverty aren't the only factors that age a person. I have seen mothers and fathers that have made excuses for, over indulged and spoiled their children only to watch them turn into the worst that a society has to offer. As a result the worry and the regret stemming from the woulda, coulda shoulda factor that the parent endures eats them from the inside out while their unfeeling children ignore their pain and the suffering of others. I have also witnessed a person harden by a life of hatred and unjust deeds towards others reap the harsh benefits of that physically and mentally.

Have you ever seen a person prematurely aged by poverty?

Yes.

White hair can be caused by abuse....

Have you ever seen a person prematurely aged by poverty?

Yes, I have seen many of her kind. And yes, you're right. abject poverty causes premature aging... lack of food to nourish the mind and body. .. hunger drives a person to extreme depression, and into drug abuse or other vices.

It is understandable to be unsympathetic those who succumbs to vices instead of helping themselves free from the grip of poverty. Only those who could help themselves deserve helps.