DAMNED IF YOU DO, DAMNED IF YOU DON'T

Have you noticed how many more blind beggars are working the public places these days? Only recently, at a SriHartamas open eating joint, I counted five begging teams, the last pair working the round at 2am just before my group left. Obviously they work till very late – I’ll give them that. And very diligently too (my brother-in-law said on one occasion he was approached by the same pair of blind gentleman and his lady assistant twice in one night at the same table, an hour apart).

To be fair, it is not totally correct to say they are out-and-out begging because nearly all of them also offer reciprocal “gift” items of sort – small packets of tissue, book markers, tiny note-books, wise-word stickers, or the like, in return for the “donations”. This arrangement, I’m sure, makes them feel somewhat less of a beggar and gives them a greater sense of legitimacy for what they do.

Clearly, quite a lot of preparations would have gone into getting to that stage – to decide on the areas to work on and the time-table and routine (different places on different days), the routes to take, the needed logistics to get to the target operating areas (they probably don’t live anywhere near SriHartamas, for example), to select and acquire the products (in bulk to get them at the cheapest possible), to arrange for an assistant to accompany the principle player, and possibly quite a few other things.

It doesn’t take much to figure out that what we have here is a slick “business” – planned, organized, and managed by those who are clearly willing to trade in the misfortune of the less fortunate and the compassion of the public. Although this realisation can only undermine the goodwill and compassion of many would-be donors yet, somehow, this does not seem to impact the “collection”. The public continue to give, but probably with less “keikhlasan”, including me!

So, what’s the point I’m trying to make? I really don’t know. I do know I get irritated (from mildly to immensely) whenever I’m approached by these “sponsored” teams. I quietly rebel inside yet reluctant to be judged by the neighbouring tables or my children, or risk starting my wife’s “aaah…biar lah………………”, and being made to seem petty and small!

The closest I can equate my quandary in such situation is to leaving the mosque after Friday prayer making haste to catch a particularly urgent meeting, only to find the car blocked by another car, double-parked, and whose owner decided to have an extra lengthy wirid. Do I make an issue of it when he finally arrived or do I just ignore it? I still have not quite worked out the better approach – I still feel damned either way!