I've noticed that almost every time I'm eating out, or just lepaking with my friends, I'm almost always approached by one party or another asking me for money. This issues' been fairly talked about in Malaysia, some people believe that giving money to beggars is bad, supports begging culture and doesn't solve the root problem of why people have to beg in the first place. Others publish about the reasons people have to resort to begging, tugging on heart strings and that it was entrenched in the system for these people to beg. Like every issue, theres two sides to the coin, but I'm always faced with the confusing question, do I give this pakcik 2 ringgit or not?
Last year, Israr Khalid, a journalist from Astro Awani published that a beggar in KL can make up to RM 18240 a month. Thats a crazyyyy amount of money in my opinion. While he did admit that the generosity of the public should be applauded, it is a bit suspicious. It raises issues are there begging syndicates that kidnap and force people to beg, are people just not wanting to find a job which then means they can get decent money and don't have to pay tax and help the economy at the end of the day. Should we give people money, when they put up a false image and pretty much deceive us?
While it all makes sense, I always feel kind of bad when I'm sitting at a cafe, drinking my RM 12 chai latte and this old man/woman is in rags and asking me for my spare change. Plus, I believe that human were made with at least a little bit of ego. I'd think you'd have to be pretty desperate to resort to asking strangers for money, and to have to do it every day.... And I can't help but wonder, even if there were syndicates and fakes out there, what if this person doesn't get to eat today? What if he/she hasn't eaten in a week? What if they actually need it.
Even with all this sentiment, in the past I mostly didn't give money to beggars (I have a pretty limited allowance okay!). Its really easy to buy into the, 'their fakes and are cheating you for your money' argument when you see the same beggar at targetted locations most days of the week. But quite recently, my opinion on this whole issue changed.
One day I was eating at a mamak with my best friend Saida, and this beggar came to us and we *politely* declined, and went on eating. This beggar went on, asking patrons at the mamak for money, and most people didn't bat an eye. At the same time, there was this pakcik by the roadside selling woven baskets and fans, and he was just sitting down. When this beggar crossed paths with the pakcik, he didn't ask him for money because well, their both out on the streets. But the pakcik stopped him, and gave the beggar ten ringgit. After a while, this pakcik went around trying to sell his fans and baskets, and Saida and I felt so ashamed. We were two people, who didn't have to worry about our next meal and could afford to order sotong goreng to go with our roti canai and didn't give anything to the beggar. While this man, who clearly had sooooo little, was donating to someone in need.
Another thing that made me change my perspective about this was a story my Grandma told me. Grandma lives a comfortable life, she can afford to indulge in a cool tech toy every now and then off her pension fund. My siblings and I joked around saying that she is #lifegoals and we want to be able to afford her lifestyle and all that, then my grandma told us her story. She says when she was a little girl, her parents used to give her some pocket money everyday to spend at school. It wasn't much, like 40 cents (which could buy you a meal back in the day). On her route to school, there was always this old blind man just sitting down reading the Quran. Grandma would give him a fraction of her pocket money, 5 cents or 10 cents. It was never a lot but she did it everyday and it seemed like my grandmas few cents were his bread and butter. Grandma believes with all her heart that all her rezeki and fortune was because of those few cents she gave to that old man everyday, and she told us, if you can afford to eat out, you can afford to give people a little bit at least. What goes around comes around, insyaAllah, murah rezeki if you take kedekut rezeki.
So I've promised myself one thing. Considering that I don't have income but I can afford a few finer things in life, I'm going to set an amount to donate per week. Once I've reached that quota, I'll have a reason to say no to the next beggar, but if I haven't, then I have no reason not to help someone who may need it more than I do. It doesn't have to be much, but to a person who needs it, a little bit does go a long way.
Till tomorrow then!
Love,
Mirr
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