Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Help
Whenever I see a young boy or a girl with a begging bowl, I am in a dilemma whether to help or not to help. I have the strong urge to help him or her as a responsible citizen of this country but stop short of helping thinking what if he or she is connected to the organised gang of criminals who are forcing young children to beg on streets after mutilating their limbs. If this be the case, the money given will ultimately go to their coffer. I ultimately decide not to help but then this creates a tremendous sense of guilt in me. I don't know how to come out of this situation.
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8 comments:
What I do in such a case is, I ask the child to come away with me and work for me. They always inevitably run away on hearing that! They don't want to work, it is simple as that. Or if they are from a gang, they become afraid of your suggestion!
I tell you. it ALWAYS work & it leaves no guilt in you!
It is very risky proposition to ask such people to work as domestic servant. They may rob me of my valuables or may pass on some information to the gang which may threaten my life. But I must say, your suggestion is very valuable and worth trying as you have yourself experimented and it has worked for you.
Don't worry, It ALWAYS works!
Inshallah, It will work when you are so sure of it. I don't help for reasons I stated in this post. But let me share with you, I have once helped a very old woman who could barely walk. She wanted to hire an auto and when I passed by her, she called me for help. I was initially reluctant but finally extended my help. I helped her take auto and when she told me she did not have money to pay autowalla, I paid her 50 rupees from my pocket. She blessed me from the bottom of her heart. I felt so good at that time I was relieved of all the tensions I had. Perhaps for the first time I realised, there is joy in giving.
I Think in place of giveing them some coins let us provide them some thing to eat or drink if they are ready to consume.I think that will serve the purpose of both side we will be happy to help and they will be happy to eat.
There is always joy in giving. They say, that one should never restrict the compassion to flow from one's being. But we have to be careful to be able to recognize whether these are people who genuinely need help. Like Anonymous said, giving food is better than giving money.
I usually shun people who beg. They are the last ones to receive from me. I look around myself and try to judge on my own , who is in genuine need of help. Then I try to find out the problem and help them if needed.
It is sad, that due to these begging gangs, we tend to doubt the people who are genuinely desperate for help. But it is not our fault either, since we see so many frauds these days.
In Islam, they have set the order of helping the poor. They say, that the first ppl we should look to help is amongst out own relatives, the second is our neighbors, the third is orphans and widows & the fourth & last are beggars, since begging is shamelessness.
But still I do sometimes feel, that someone may resort to beg for once out of dire needs of his predicament. So I try to check if the person is really needy. The best way to know that is to see if the person is being choosy. Beggars can't be choosers...
Anony, thanks for your suggestion.
Mona, all said and done, it is safer to help through means other than money as anonymous said rightly why not give good. It is very difficult to find someone who is genuinely in need of money. It is like trying to search needle in heystack. People are finding innovative ways to emotionally blackmail those who are genuinely interested in helping. It is sad but true.
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