For The Sake of Argument

To Give or Not To Give

The cardinal rule is to only donate if the person is a child or visibly incapable of work due to his or her physically challenged state of being. The rationale is simple. Succumbing to the can-I-have-some-change-please plea by the homeless or hobos outside the tube stations, in the underground tunnels, at museums’ entrance, effectively makes me an accessory to their crime – the crime of doing nothing. Why would I encourage them to sit on their lazy arses? Moreover half (if not more) of these people suffer from addiction to booze to some detrimental extent. As long as my brain is still intact and functioning, I do not wish to bear witness to the opposite corollary of my philanthropy.

Anyway, my stance was tested a few weeks ago when I stumbled upon this article in the papers citing a journalist who sat in for the court hearings of dozens of homeless criminal offenders. Petty crimes like shoplifting etc. Since most of these offenders are returning ones, obviously no amount of days in jail would act as a deterrent. For one thing, they repeat because they would always need money to eat. For another, which is a less obvious one, the jail is certainly more pleasant a place to crash at than spending the cold nights outside. So the judge only other “solution” is to fine these people (yeah, as if they haven’t been impoverished enough) or make them join some group sessions, which they sometimes are not able to attend due to their inevitable circumstances (no money for transport etc). And for failing to turn up for these sessions, they are further punished. It’s like a runaway reaction, do you not reckon? An incredibly stupid one. It’s really sad to know that these people who I once upon a time, wouldn’t hesitate to brand as Sampah Masyarakat in my Malay compositions in school are being treated as exactly that - trash. More disturbing it is to acknowledge that it isn’t rare for some of these occurrences to root purely from a shift in fortune. For instance this guy who was the protagonist of the story. It all started after his father, whom he was extremely close to, died. His spirit sort of went with his old man’s and he never quite made it back to the grounds until it was a tad too late. You see the thing about Britain is that you could never get a decent job unless you have a permanent address. Thus, being homeless well, I don’t have to spell it out to you, do I? In addition, the shelters provided by the government do not have sufficient room to accommodate everyone. This poor guy is not on dope, not alcoholic - clean in that sense and interestingly enough he was a trained cook who’s been married before. On some days he might be lucky to get an odd job, which pays £30 a day. He’d spend £10 on food and £20 for a night indoors in some cheap hotel. If he keeps to the parks he’d have the £20 but he could hardly find work. So the money would be spent on food for those days. Can he save to better his lifestyle? Impossible!

The point I’m trying to make is contrary to what I used to believe, not everyone living off begging on the streets remain the way they are because they are, simply put, lazybums. Not all are crazy or useless, they are just unlucky and they can’t help it. Their only mistake was to step off on the wrong foot (Dear God, I’m not perfect so let me not make a decision that would pitch me into one of those spheres of perpetual adversity - the sort I see in my everyday life). No one in his right mind would choose that kind of life. If we loathe seeing them in that condition, I’m sure they loathe being in it even more. Beyond words I imagine. Secondly, while forming my own ideas and opinions I should steer around making judgemental judgements. It isn’t fair and it goes to show how shallow I can be. I should observe more empathy and selflessness and stop being so hypercritical all the time (which reminds me that I think I’m being cursed by my own foul thinking of other people… well not dirty-foul but more like demeaning-foul. Errmm… don’t know if I’m making sense here. Bottom line is I need to erase them and repent for my sins before it’s too late).

And as to whether or not I’ll spare them me change in the future… I’m not sure (hey, at least that’s a level up from being adamant about ignoring, right?!). Maybe I’ll base it on my momentary gut feeling. We’ll see. Plus I’m not earning yet and the fact that charity should begin at home and this is not exactly home, is it? Hmm... speaking of which, I find myself more generous towards Muslims in need, which is a reasonable tendency of a person of any faith and I do trust that we can contribute towards a medical cause regardless. However, is there a rule for donating to non-Muslims that I’m unaware of?

It’s a bit strange to end like this but I’m ending it anyway. Cheerio!

posted by ShopTastic @ 4:02 am |