The Great Irony of Our Society
OK. Its bad photography and maybe the argument I’m putting up won’t be any better.
But look at the photograph above and behold the great irony of our theistic society…a girl holding the photograph of a God and asking you for money.
Got the irony of the pic yet?
She’s holding a photograph of what the people believe to be God. And she’s asking you for money! Wasn’t God the supplicator of all needs, In My Humble Opinion?
She’s holding a symbol of the people’s God in her hand. And instead of asking Him for her needs, she’s asking you for money to satisfy her needs.
And how gullible can people be when they actually do donate! Waste of money aside, by giving not to the needy who try and are unable to get a living but to those whose living it is to beg, is this not a blatant mockery of the people’s belief itself?
Generally, the idea that these beggars exploit is based not so much on people’s beliefs than it is on peoples’ sympathy. Just the sight of children in shabby clothes and who give the impression of being miserable and without a home or means of education would induce sympathy in anyone with the smallest super-ego. If we were in an atheist society, the people who donate could be forgiven for their sympathy. But in a society where almost everyone believes in God and where they go to huge lengths to prove the supremacy of their protectors, this act is just a give-away of all their beliefs.
What are you donating to? A God who doesn’t need anything material you can offer or a believer of that God who is carrying his effigy or framed photograph around all day? All you’re donating to is a person who is mocking your God, saying here is your God in my hand, and I who is carrying him around all day am still needy of your money, and by accepting your donation, I’ll be putting you above the stature of you God, and making you subliminally realize that.
It might also be that since God can’t physically appear and help these people in what they seem wont to believe to be in need of (money), he’s sourcing his benevolence through you. But really? C’mon now….
And the people at the Durgah (and some other places) are just using a more sophisticated methodology. Instead of asking directly for your money, they ask you to donate articles, such as chadars, coconuts, et al, which is bought in exchange for money mostly from their own shops or outlets and which mostly go right back to the counter they came from. And they won’t even ask you directly. They just rely on long standing tradition, which probably began with the same intent.
Asking for donation to run a religious institution is one thing. It’s alright if I say that I have to run this institution and need your donation. But to donate to the God himself?
So here’s a request to all people. If you believe in God, then don’t donate anything to the shanidaan guys or the street urchins carrying effigies of Gods or at the durgah. Instead, pray that these people become the believers that they are claiming to be. Don’t promote mockery of God.
And yes, if you don’t believe in God, then you can do what you like.
But whether you’re a believer or an atheist, do leave your comments or counter-arguments in the comments below…
P.S. As an interesting aside, at a red light light recently in Gurgaon, a beggar woman came to a woman in a Honda Civic beside our jeep and started asking her for money. When the lady refused to put down her mirrors even after repeated grunts and wails and whimpers in all the possible manners the beggar could contrive, she went and turned up the windscreen wipers of the lady’s car!
And just as the disgruntled lady got out to put the wipers right, the beggar got right up next to her and started pestering her for money again…
Comments