Thoughts for another day

January 27, 2009.

Today's verse: Pro. 21:13. Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

These days whenever I talk about the poor and ask people to look at them and take care of them, the immediate question is, should we give to the beggars on the streets? In our city, Mumbai, there are so many beggars that you give to one, ten others turn up out of nowhere and ask. Therefore in that context, this is a pertinent question. Besides, in today’s context of professionalized begging, you know that the money you give does not actually only belong to the person you gave and so on. Well whether to give to beggars or not is undoubtedly a good question, I would like to look at who signifies the poor. Sure, the beggars do qualify but are they the only ones?

Just look around and see the world around you. There are families out there who are struggling to make ends meet. Monthly rations, school fees, train fares, house rents, and what have you are enough to drain the money in a jiffy. Then again, there are elderly people living out there, rather just subsisting and eking out a living with no decent meals going into their bellies. There are children living in slums just next door who don’t even know what the taste of ice-cream is. Well, can you do something about it? Can you reach out with perhaps just a little…that will be much.

Back to the question of beggars; my viewpoint is pretty succinctly brought out by a Jain friend of mine when he once told me, whoever stretches his/her hand in front of me, I will give to that person, no matter what the world says. To this end, he keeps a lot of change with him and uses that change to give. You know before the Father in Heaven, we are also like beggars going to Him for this and for that. Now, if He would also start thinking and saying to Himself, ‘this one is not poor enough or not deserving enough’ what would be our state? Would you like God to do that? And let me tell you, our verse today is quite clear about the same.