This is a question which has given me trouble for quite sometime. This might sound like a trivial issue but when I'm confronted with the situation normally two competing views come to my mind. One is that the beggar might really be in need and so I should give him some money (how much is a function of local (in time) generosity, money available - believe me there are times when I have less than the beggar himself i.e., zero, and so many other factors). The other conflicting view presented by the ever logical not-so-generous people is that I'm encouraging begging by giving money to them. If we try analyzing the situation a bit more we find that there are many more possible actions other than the ones mentioned above. For eg,
a.I could buy him food so that he doesn't go and misuse the money for something like drinking or even lose it to someone stronger.
b. I could give him some employment so that he can lead a more dignified life.
c. I could try finding out what made him choose begging and try to look for a solution.
...
z. I could just shoo him away saying I can't help you!.
I don't intend to get into the question of whether a beggar leads a dignified life or not. For now we'll go with the common view that a beggar's profession is not dignified. Here let's try analyzing the possibilities other than giving money to the beggar. Options other than the last one are no doubt better than giving money to the beggar but, the question is, how many of us really do that? When people say I'm encouraging begging by giving money to the beggar, which is not a good thing, I agree with them, but what makes one choose the last option of doing nothing. Now a natural question that arises is, what is my obligation towards the beggar to make me choose anything other than the last option. The answer is simple - the beggar doesn't say "give me money!" at least the ones I have seen say "I'm hungry please give me money, or my mother is about to die and I need money to save her life so please give me money, or me and my small sister have not had food for two days so please give us money, or I'm handicapped and can't earn so please give me money etc". Now when I say beggar says something he needn't open his mouth and utter it. If a fool is waiting for that then this blog is not him. I'm probably being too harsh but what I mean here is that when a handicapped beggar comes to me its implied that he says I can't work so please give me money.
I don't know how true any of the statements a beggar makes is but the question is what if that is indeed true. It is this "what if" which troubles anyone with a heart. To know the answer I need to investigate. Most of the times I neither have the time nor the patience to do so which, I believe, is the case with most of the people other than the ones who do social service. Strictly speaking I should take the pain to find out and that is what is the "perfect thing to do". But here I'm looking into what if I choose not do the perfect thing. What is the next best? The answer that comes to me is - definitely not shooing him away because when I do that what I'm essentially telling the beggar is - "I don't give a damn about your mother dying, your sister being hungry or even you starving to death, I don't care just buzz off!". Let's face it! This is what we mean since we haven't taken the effort to find out. When I choose not to find out about his condition how can I say that he's trying to fool me?. Let's say that the beggar is really saying the truth, that his mother is really about to die and he doesn't have money to save her. Me giving whatever small amount I give, could save someone.
How can people be so cruel? Without even finding out what the real situation is how can they say I can't give money. Now again people argue saying they have actually seen many cases where the beggar is cheating them. Even if I have seen a million such cases how can I be sure about the one in front of me? Did I find out? If not how can I not help him? Isn't that completely inhuman? I'm not giving him all of my property. What I give him is probably not even a a thousandth of what I earn in a month. What do I loose? Now the other idiot says that if I give money to one then many will ask. So what? Let's say even if I give to ten beggars I don't loose much. So what is the problem? The problem is not with the situation it is with character and a little ability to think. May be people don't think, but once they are exposed to this argument and then if they shy away from giving anything then, I think, they are heartless. They seriously don't care about someone dying. Only when they'll face such a situation where they'll have to beg for money to save some of their near and dear one's will they realize this. May be that day they will also beg, not by going into streets but, by forwarding emails.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Corruption: very difficult to fight or is it?
Anyone would agree that corruption is one of the greatest evils that our country needs to fight today. Now one might say that the cause of corruption, which is not an issue I intend to get into here, is to be fought. Let's just look at corruption itself. People keep telling that its very difficult to fight corruption. Is this really true? I don't think so. All that is needed is a resolution from each and every person that he (the usage is strictly out of laziness to write he/she or she both of which are longer and tedious) will never bribe. Sticking to this resolution in most cases is not difficult at all. Its not that people bribe only in life-threatening situations. I agree it takes real guts to stand up to a situation like that or even worse, one in which one's near and dear ones' lives may be under threat. Most of the times we do it just because we don't want to
a. waste time
b. stand in loooooong queues.
c. waste money.
...
...
z. be stupid
What an irony? A service to the nation in disguise is being called wastage of time. How better can time be utilized? How better can money be spent than spending it rightfully according to rules? How smarter can one get than helping one's own country fight corruption? Are these even reasons? People say "why should only I change ?" and the answer is only when I change can the whole transformation be complete. If 99 are corrupt out of 100 then my change will bring the number down to 98. Now that doesn't sound significant. It does even less when real figures are taken into account. But the fact is if corruption has to be eradicated I have to stop. I'm an integral part of the country. The least one can do is changing himself. One need not go around trying to change others. All that is needed is a personal change in everyone of us.
We are not even ready to sacrifice the smallest of our conveniences leave aside being tortured. Just imagine the amount of torment that our freedom fighters went through. What did they fight for? What did they achieve? Why did they sacrifice their lives? Can we even imagine surviving the smallest of torture that they went through? Just imagine our nails being plucked one by one, our hair being plucked one by one, our tongue being pulled out till we can't speak, our throat being scraped till we can't make a sound, our skin being cut bit by bit, our iris being torn, our eye being removed, our teeth being broken one by one, our tooth being drilled till we go unconscious, ourselves being skinned, our backs burnt by hot iron, ourselves lying on charcoal, ourselves lying on ice for hours together, a current passing through our genitals, ourselves being castrated, the resulting wounds being dressed with salt, pepper and lime. Does that sound too grotesque? But what is the limit of torture? It can go beyond the boundaries of most people's thinking till it can keep the victim barely alive. How do we know what all our freedom fighters faced? Probably much worse and still they didn't give up. Most of us surely can't take all this. But who is asking us to go through this? All that is needed is some extra patience, a little extra effort, a little thinking from our side. This can curb most of corruption. Very rare are the cases when it goes to the extent of torture or life-threatening situations. We must be able to stand those also in the longer run. But at least we can bear the pain in our legs due to standing for five minutes in a queue. Surely we can go to the RTO office a few extra times to get our license the right way. Surely we can travel in the general compartment of a train, or quit travel when we don't have a confirmed ticket. Surely we can pay the right fine when we have broken a rule by mistake. Isn't it shameful that we got independence due to the struggle of patriots, who gave up their lives or worse suffered torture, and are living like this?
To hell with people who say that the country won't change just by me changing. I need to change first. The country can't change without me because the country is not exclusive of me.
a. waste time
b. stand in loooooong queues.
c. waste money.
...
...
z. be stupid
What an irony? A service to the nation in disguise is being called wastage of time. How better can time be utilized? How better can money be spent than spending it rightfully according to rules? How smarter can one get than helping one's own country fight corruption? Are these even reasons? People say "why should only I change ?" and the answer is only when I change can the whole transformation be complete. If 99 are corrupt out of 100 then my change will bring the number down to 98. Now that doesn't sound significant. It does even less when real figures are taken into account. But the fact is if corruption has to be eradicated I have to stop. I'm an integral part of the country. The least one can do is changing himself. One need not go around trying to change others. All that is needed is a personal change in everyone of us.
We are not even ready to sacrifice the smallest of our conveniences leave aside being tortured. Just imagine the amount of torment that our freedom fighters went through. What did they fight for? What did they achieve? Why did they sacrifice their lives? Can we even imagine surviving the smallest of torture that they went through? Just imagine our nails being plucked one by one, our hair being plucked one by one, our tongue being pulled out till we can't speak, our throat being scraped till we can't make a sound, our skin being cut bit by bit, our iris being torn, our eye being removed, our teeth being broken one by one, our tooth being drilled till we go unconscious, ourselves being skinned, our backs burnt by hot iron, ourselves lying on charcoal, ourselves lying on ice for hours together, a current passing through our genitals, ourselves being castrated, the resulting wounds being dressed with salt, pepper and lime. Does that sound too grotesque? But what is the limit of torture? It can go beyond the boundaries of most people's thinking till it can keep the victim barely alive. How do we know what all our freedom fighters faced? Probably much worse and still they didn't give up. Most of us surely can't take all this. But who is asking us to go through this? All that is needed is some extra patience, a little extra effort, a little thinking from our side. This can curb most of corruption. Very rare are the cases when it goes to the extent of torture or life-threatening situations. We must be able to stand those also in the longer run. But at least we can bear the pain in our legs due to standing for five minutes in a queue. Surely we can go to the RTO office a few extra times to get our license the right way. Surely we can travel in the general compartment of a train, or quit travel when we don't have a confirmed ticket. Surely we can pay the right fine when we have broken a rule by mistake. Isn't it shameful that we got independence due to the struggle of patriots, who gave up their lives or worse suffered torture, and are living like this?
To hell with people who say that the country won't change just by me changing. I need to change first. The country can't change without me because the country is not exclusive of me.
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