Help the poor, donate to the needy is what we all have heard. Let us think it with some other angle. Have you ever thought you might have actually made people more dependent and willingly unemployed instead of helping them to survive? Well, if you have never thought so, then,THINK AGAIN.
Let me go back to the time when I had made my mind to write this article. I hope you will like it because it is quite a story. A man of about thirty years old always used to sit by a corner in Bhanuchowk, Dharan, Nepal. He had characteristic sad and worn out face and though he was physically able, people showed a lot of kindness and he was always given money by most of the people passing by. I had the same kind of pity while looking at him. Back then also, I used to belong to the group of people who think that begging by physically able people is just not justified. But then, I used to look at him and think fate has bigger games. I used to scrutinize his forehead lines, deep enough to direct you to the unbearable pain, his hands shaking in hunger or fear or I didn?t know what. And I used to open up my heart to give him whatever I could. This process started with pity and became a habit to me. There were many ways I could go to my college but then I always chose the way where that man threw himself in the world of mercy. I remember writing poems on him.
Well this process did go long till one evening when I happened to strike a situation while shopping in the market which usually I didn?t visit. I saw in front of me the same man, the same face, but this time, the forehead lines carried some other meaning, his eyes were red, he was shouting and no signs of hunger. It didn?t take me long to notice that he was as drunk as fish. My consciousness hardly believed it, and I asked a woman of a hotel who was constantly shouting at him for his loud, noises. To my surprise, she said, he had always been like that, begged all his day, then, got drunk as hell and went home to his wife and beat her up. I was shocked after all, I didn?t give him money so that he could pay for his alcohol.
I observed many other examples during my India tour. Children freely begged for money and somehow they had a survival out of it as well. I wonder what future they will have. A child habituated to earn a living out of begging is more likely to spend his/her life in a way that needs no effort or less effort like begging. Or worse, this habit may also lead to the poisoning of their minds with output of frauds, robberies or even murders. Solution to their misery may be placing them in child homes, or some permanent placement, but giving money is not the solution.
Through this article I want to convey a message that please say yes to help the ones who are really in need like the disabled people and the physically incapable people. But if people can earn their living through work, then don?t make them salivate in your pennies. You will move showing your kindness thinking it may help them but it may actually infect them and make them the pity for life. Under normal circumstances, a man should learn to catch his own fish, rather then wait for someone to throw the dead fish at them. So, if you give money to the begging People, Think again, and this time, Think properly.
10 Comments
Agree with you that begging is not the solution. This is a growing concern in countries like India . Govt should provide some social security , unemployment benefits , free child education , free food for below poverty line families etc , then only this can be fully eradicated. Thanks for highlighting this issue.
Posted 20-07-2013 01:05
You have a very beautiful mind, Smriti :-)
Now it's time to talk about social security net. Giving coins to beggars can't be the ultimate solution. Instead, the society should be able to provide proper job training and minimum subsidy for living.
Posted 16-07-2013 09:55
Rightly said.
Posted 15-07-2013 19:05
nice,very well said!
Posted 15-07-2013 08:52
very very good article
Posted 14-07-2013 14:55
truely superb!
Posted 14-07-2013 14:53
nice article, thank you for sharing, it has let me believe that small help of temporary interval can't make people sustained
Posted 14-07-2013 14:45
well said!
Posted 14-07-2013 14:36
Very nice!
Posted 14-07-2013 14:29
Thats true, nice article, Smriti
Posted 14-07-2013 13:51