The Choice of Poverty

In many countries around the world I would be arguing the opposite. However in this country, I believe and have experienced poverty as a choice. There are different types of poverty, as someone already pointed out, a single death in a family, or serious illness can force a family who was very functional into poverty that is desperately hard to recover from. This usually results in bankruptcy. In these situations the members of the family have choices, over the course of seven years their credit is re-built, and if they make smart choices regarding their spending and lifestyle, stability can be reached. If there are kids in the family and college is approaching, providing that child wants to go to school there are numerous ways to do so- even without help from parents/guardians. If correct FAFSA forms are filled, the process is now streamlined online and scholarships are applied for, just about anyone can find a way to make higher education possible. In situational poverty you are often looking at people who are highly motivated to turn their lives around and regain what they once had. 
Generational poverty is a little different. Generational poverty exists when multiple generations of one family have been born into poverty. This can also be called a culture of poverty. In these circumstances you will often see parents who do not value education for their children, are dependent on the government/state for aid and have an attitude of "being owed" a living. Children coming from this background are at a much higher risk of not graduating from high school and therefore not going on to post secondary education. However even in this situation, it is still a choice. True getting "out of poverty" can be very difficult, but it is doable if an individual is willing to put the time, effort and energy into bettering themselves. 

If you live in India and were born in the slums, the chance of you changing your luck are slim to none, but in this country if you want to change, if you want to succeed, you can. The problem is people's attitudes, it can be very addicting to consider your self a victim of circumstance and poverty. My question to those of you who say poverty is not a choice: when was the last time you asked someone in poverty what they had tried to do to fix the situation? Often you will hear many short term answers that are really excuses- it is always someone's fault- never theirs. Getting out of poverty is difficult and takes years- but it is doable for those who refuse to be victims and who decide to take control of their own lives instead of demanding everyone else take care of them.