Why the poor?

So I was reading "The Jesus I never knew" last night and Philip Yancey was talking about "God's preferential option for the poor" based on the Beatitudes and phrases like "blessed are the poor in spirit, and those that that hunger and thirst."  Yeah, yeah, heard that before.  But then I read Monika Hellwig's "advantages" to being poor:

•  The poor know they are in urgent need of redemption
• The poor know not only their dependence on God and on powerful people but also their interdependence with one another
• The poor rest their security not on things but on people
• The poor have no exaggerated sense of their own importance and no exaggerated need of privacy
• The poor expect little from competition and much from cooperation
• The poor can distinguish between necessities and luxuries
• The poor can wait, because they have acquired a kind of dogged patience born of acknowledged dependence
• The fears of the poor are more realistic and less exaggerated, because they already know that one can survive great suffering and want
• When the poor have the Gospel preached to them, it sounds like good news and not like a threat or scolding
• The poor can respond to the call of the Gospel with a certain abondonment and uncomplicated totality because they have so little to lose and are ready for anything.

We would all benefit from being a little more like the poor.  I think that's why I like being here...  it's a lot harder to be self-focused and complain about stupid things when my taxi drives past beggars and shacks everyday.  How blessed am I to be part of both worlds- surrounded by daily reminders of the "advantages" of the poor but rich in opportunities.