Beg to Differ

"When you're on the street, at a sidewalk, or in a car stopping at an intersection or whatever, and then a beggar comes to you asking for money,
will you give?"

One colleague asked this question when we were having our coffee, while waiting for our meeting to start.
It then turned into an interesting conversation:

A :
"I won't. Never. It will just encourage them. They are lazy. It's the laziest profession ever. This people just want it easy. Work? No, I'll just beg. Easier.
Lazy bums..."

B:
"Well, that if you think standing in the sun (and rain), going from car to car under the heat, day in day out, is easy...
I bet you won't even last half an hour standing there..."

A:
"That's why you don't see me begging. Haaa ! " [laughing].
"But seriously though. Giving money to them will just encourage more of them to beg instead of work.."

B:
"Yes, but some of them are old people, or young children. They are not supposed to work. We can't tell them "No, no money for you. Go away and get a job.."
I don't give to healthy young men. That sort of beggars should get a job. But I tend to give some to old people and young children..."

C:
"I always give. It's only a small change. No big deal. It help me from feeling bad. Here I am sitting comfortably in an air-conditioned car, while they are out there, probably tired, hungry and thirsty... I always feel bad. Especially when I see young children begging.
I know it won't help much. But hopefully, by giving some, they will get enough for the day and can go home a bit early.
I always feel bad and regret it if I don't give any..."

A:
"Well you should feel bad. You drive a BMW."

C:
"Oh, shut up. You are not exactly taking a bus to work either. What are you going to say to the beggars: "Look, I only drive a honda jazz, I am just as poor as you are. I feel your suffering... I feel your pain.. " ?

[bitter laughter]

A:
"All right.. all right. Stop it.

But some say the beggars are organized by mafias. And if you give money to them you essentially give money to the mafias...
And some other say, some beggars actually live a good life. They actually make good money out of this and in their homes they have TVs, stereos,..."

B: "That if you believe the story. You think it's true?"

A: "What, you think it's not?"

D who so far was only listening, decided to join in the conversation.

D:
"Did you read the Tribune a few days back?[1]"
[Tribune as in the International Herald Tribune, the newspaper].

B: "What? It wrote something about Indonesian beggars?"

D:
"No. It's about beggars in India. Some say the beggars in India were maimed, you know, cut some fingers, amputate one leg, or blood-vessel stitched up to make the arm look black with gangrene, just so they can get more money from begging. It's the mafia, some say. Disabled beggars get more money than healthy beggars, so they maimed them on purpose."

C: "That's horrible."

A: "And it's not true?"

D:
"Not according to the newspaper. It's 95% myth. I would dare to assume, it's the same case here. The story of beggars organized by mafias or professional beggars who make good money begging and living a good life.
It's probably a myth."

B: "But why would people make up a story like that?"

D:
"Well, it doesn't mean it did not happen. Surely we have mafias somewhere controlling the streets. Surely we have pro beggars who actually live a good life.
We just should not assume that is the majority, that's all. The majority I believe is out there not out of choice.

Such story has become a convenient excuse for us -- or for the government -- , so we don't have to tackle the real issue. It's easier to blame the mafias for placing the beggars at every intersections, or to label them professional beggars, than to tackle the real problem: Poverty."

B:
"It's a two different world isn't it.
Here we are, having our coffee and our muffins, and we are not even hungry. We have had our breakfast, and look at us now: stuffing our face with muffins..
While out there people may not be able to afford even a meal a day."

D: Yes, here we are. Just talking. We're full of sh*t, really.

C:
"Yes, and that is frustrating. It's not like we don't want to help, you know."

E who was preoccupied by her business-magazine suddenly said something in a very low voice while her eyes never left the magazine:

"If you think about it, the income tax you pay every month to the government, is enough to help one family of four to live an ok life... Two families, even.

Or maybe three..."
[looking at C with a wicked smile...]

Everybody is uncomfortably quiet. E is from HR. She knows how much everybody makes and how much taxes everybody pays.
You don't like it when HR think you make too much. You want HR to think you make too little, hence a raise is required...

E: "Maybe you all should ask the government. What's up with all those money?"

A scratched his head. B cleared his throat. C acted as if she didn't hear E. D sipped his coffee. Everybody is uncomfortable.

The door opened. Our counterparts who we all had been waiting, suddenly turned up.
"Sorry we're late..."

A :
"Oh, no no. You arrived at the perfect time... Perfect time indeed...
Shall we start the meeting right away?"

And there you go. The world full of coffee and muffins has started to revolve around project initiatives, targets, and profitability.
In the end that is what we do and we are sticking to it.

While the other world,
the world that makes a good topic while waiting for a meeting to start,
the world we talk about while sipping our coffee and chewing our muffins and cinnamon buns,
the world we see everyday on the way to work and back,
the world that we know is part of ours,

will still slowly revolve, if not stand still, in poverty.

(And yes, what's up with all the tax money we paid all this time, by the way?)


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Source:
[1] International Herald Tribune, August 4, 2006,Page 2 : A myth about maiming: A scapegoat for poverty - Amelia Gentleman