I can’t remember the exact date but about 2 months ago I was using Facebook, I came across a picture of two young boys eating leftovers from a pile of garbage. I was moved at the sight of two boys of almost the age of my little brother Haris. A thought came into my mind that what if my brother was there instead of any of those two boys. I rejected that thought and for few seconds I felt bad for those boys. I clicked on the already opened Youtube tab and started listening to the song of Coldplay “Paradise”. This is how little I cared about the poor boys; I carried on with my life.
This brings to the real dilemma and raises the question that Is Abdullah Tariq entitled to ask the poor to sacrifice? Why would I ask them to sacrifice when I know that I haven’t done anything for them! It is so astounding that we feel satisfied in our hearts that we’ve helped the poor by just giving few rupees to a beggar. It is amazing that we are so reluctant to help the poor in our society but yet we expect them to stand up for themselves, we expect them to change, we expect them to adapt, we expect them to become just like us; heartless and dead. Through my eyes I have witnessed few things that may sound unthreatening to the rich but to the poor; they are the means of havoc. There is an injustice for the poor as only they can do the crime and must be held responsible and no one will bat an eye if some rich slob does it. Laws for the poor and they must be punished if they break the law and it’s ok to let go some rich kid who broke the signal. We are so low on morality that all we can see is the poor as the culprit. It does not mean that every rich person is breaking the law but at least in our society, they can get away with hideous crimes.
The social discrimination the poor has to endure every day of his life is heart-wrenching. In our society, we look down upon the poor and there is no denying to that. The perception of poor being the burden of our society has crept into the hearts of many and sadly, they are being humiliated on so many levels. They are being targeted and considered inefficient. We blame the poor for our misdeeds and yet we ask them to sacrifice for us!
The poor endure the many challenges like illiteracy and no homes. The reason why I mentioned both of these issues in the same line is that of the correlation between them. It is a not quite often when a poor decides against all the odds and makes educating his children as his sole mission. The burdens of the society and empty bellies have forced many young children into the fire of child labor. We, the more blessed than the poor have done nothing to change what has been for centuries and yet we expect them to sacrifice!
The poor are labeled by the society that we live in as untrustworthy, undisciplined and sluggish. For instance, you go to police station and report a crime; it is then and there that the poor becomes the main suspect. In villages, the “Landlord” decides the fate of the poor and the next day the news circulates all over the media about a young poor girl being thrown in front of a pack of dogs for the suspicion of stealing oranges. Our criteria for judging are that” if he is poor, he must be guilty”. I am too a part of this filthy society as I blamed indirectly our “sweeper (cleaning guy)” for stealing money from our flat; later I came to know that my other friend had taken it before going to his home and forgot to tell me about it. I did apologize to God but never got the courage to tell “Haroon-sweeper” that I accused him.
I have only seen the poor in the whole world getting affected the most by hunger, thirst, and Illness. With no means to buy food, water or shelter; the poor wanders the earth with hands begging and integrity shred into tiny pieces. We did nothing for the poor, we stood silently, we looked away, and we thought that our help was enough but we were wrong. Yet, we expect the poor to sacrifice for us. On the other side of the coin, a different reality welcomes us. Since we have been asking the poor to sacrifice and they have been for as long as one can go. Are they tired of sacrificing or have the poor made up their mind that yes they will just for the sake of surviving? They accept whatever comes their way and I have seen people gleefully welcoming the harsh realities of life. So, when we enforce something onto the poor, we expect them to accept it and in return we want them to sacrifice for us. It’s a win-win situation for us but for the poor!
The funny part of this essay is that a guy who studied from a reasonably expensive school that no poor would think of educating his children into, writing an essay on a laptop whose worth is more than what a poor earns in a whole year. To be honest, I have no idea that whether I should be ashamed of myself or feel blessed. This realization may last for few minutes unlike the last time but then again, I am part of this society of the people with dead hearts; to hell with this realization.
So, the question is asked that what role we played to eradicate poverty? And do we still have to ask the poor to sacrifice? The answer to the first question is that we provided the poor infrastructure that consisted of schemes on paper and no actual work done, we failed horribly in providing the basic services that are the right of every human being. We failed to provide them with proper education plan; we made the best possible plans for us but when it comes to poor, we failed miserably. We didn’t solve the issue of unemployment and thus problems of the poor kept piling up with time. It seems like all the diseases are for the poor and they are the most affected by it; bad sanitation, housing schemes and congested places to live for the poor are the perfect habitats for so many deadly diseases. The steps taken by the government or the people to eradicate all the problems faced by the poor are equal to nothing. Ask yourself the same question and you will come to realize that the role played by you in helping the poor is nothing in front of the sacrifice that you are demanding. We are shamelessly asking the poor to sacrifice for us and this has to stop.
Don’t ask the poor to sacrifice because it is not there obligation. They are forced to face the heat and endure the sufferings for our misdeeds. We are absolutely not entitled to ask them for the sacrifice. Though it may sound uncharacteristic of us now is the time when we put an end into this unjust treatment to the poor, we need to take steps for the poor on individual bases. I’ll try to help people around me, I’ll try to say sorry to sweeper, I’ll try to feel like a human again and have emotions and sentiments for the poor that will last longer than few mere seconds. Maybe someday there will be no need to write essays about not asking the poor to sacrifice.
