Riches are for spending – Francis Bacon

Money is our madness, out wast collective madness-D.H. Lawrence

Sine the time immemorial mankind has been searching for happiness in the mountains, forests, ashrams, temples, mosques, clubs, cinema-halls and other such places. But where is happiness to be found? To escape from the while from the drudgery and boredom of everyday existence cannot be termed as the experience of true happiness. Our life may have a round of pleasures but pleasure too has their sting no less than that of pain. Clearly happiness can not be equated with pleasure. Happiness is a deep and lasting state of Joy where as pleasure is short lived.  According top me happiness comes through self sacrifice, from giving away generously and gratuitously some part of your being to improve the lot of suffering humanity.

            Have you ever noticed that She is sitting there starring at the dark sky, trying to gage that unseen power which gave her little dainty feet but with no shoe to wear, no food to eat and no clothes to put on.  The sharpness of the cold wind piercing her innocent face making her understand that every Cinderella is not lucky enough to have a fairy Godmother. And then just only a few yards away in a sprawling mansion lay another seven year old, neatly tucked in her bed with those beautiful dolls gazing along with her to her family meal at the most luxurious restaurant in the town.

                  

Darkness and silence the same combination so horrifying in one case and so beautiful in the other! May be this is that difference between the two sides of deep gulf that divides the Poor from the Rich.

   

But I wonder why they call this golf as unbridgeable. Is it really difficult for all of us to extend a helping hand towards those who are under privileged? We, who are privileged, throw away our full allowance on stupid thing like buying every new audio cassette that hits the market or spend a lot of money on collecting perfumes and deodorants even though we are allergic to them. Or throw away to bar dancers, club parties or the sort of such other dance parties.

 

 I once heard of a family who gave Twenty different presents to their daughter on her Twentieth Birthday. I still wonder whether that little girl whom I used to see every morning playing with small pebbles knows what actually a cake tastes like!

            In our set up marriages, are supposed to be the most extra ordinary events and to make them more eventful and even forgettable, the well-to-do throw most extravagant and lavish parties in expensive hotels and banquet halls.

   

If only we spent less on these occasions by way of having a sort of simple wedding and gave small sums of money to the poor and needy so that they could pay for the education of their children, the efforts would be laudable and worthwhile. I can not understand why we don’t even try to offer a helping hand to those who are not born with silver spoons in their mouth. Why don’t we help the wretched of the earth to come out of their black holes of poverty and ignorance and enable them to live with dignity and honor?

 

   

Trust me; it won’t take much from us. Infect small efforts made by us in this direction will unable us to make the “impossible to Possible”. Then we shall have made one beautiful world where no one will be poor or where we shall no longer see small children begging for food or see them working in dangerous cracker factories. Let us pledge our selves to make this difference to our society.

Though, Beggary is something that arises out of desperation that is born by poverty but in today’s time beggars do not beg just out of inability but intentionally to get easy money & living. Therefore, instead of encouraging them by giving money, we must give them things like food, clothing or employment to begin with.

So, what can we do to help beggars? The best thing you can do is to give of yourself. Talk to them, smile at them and treat them respectfully. If it is clear the person is struggling to feed themselves, (you can tell by their age, general health and condition) then give them food. Just make sure that the food is not in a form that can be resold. Even if they can’t resell it themselves, if it can be resold, there is the danger that someone else will take it from them and sell it, benefiting no one.

Similarly if a person doesn’t have any clothes, then clothe them, just don’t give them expensive clothes that, most likely, will get stolen. Finally, if it is possible, find them a job. The great Gandhi was always trying to do this. In fact, he didn’t care if they were only working in return for food. It was a step in the right direction towards them regaining their self-respect and dignity.

Dr. Ashiq Hussain