When hand-outs become expected and considered a right

We see beggars almost everywhere and stories have been told about how lucrative begging actually is. We have seen pictures of how a good leg can be made up to look badly injured so as to enhance his chance to elicit sympathy from passers-by.

Different people have different take on beggars. Some are willing to give because of their belief to do good to get good karma. Others would avoid giving because of their belief that it would only encourage the beggars. Well, they must be encouraged by the takings because we see the same faces almost everyday.

The worst are those who come near and are expecting us to give, and not taking ‘No’ for an answer. Try not giving and you can hear them curse or at the least pass some sarcastic remarks. Some even quote Rm1 in case you are thinking of giving him or her some loose coins. Below is a joke to show how ridiculous it could be:

Perspective

A man walks past a beggar every day and gives him RM10.00 and that continues for a year. Then suddenly the daily donation changes to RM7.50.

"Well," the beggar thinks, "it's still better than nothing."

A year passes in this way until the man's daily donation suddenly becomes RM5.00.

"What's going on now?" the beggar asks his donor.

"First you give me RM10.00 every day, then RM7.50 and now only RM5.00. What's the problem?"

"Well," the man says, "last year my eldest son went to university. It's very expensive, so I had to cut costs. This year my eldest daughter also went to university, so I had to cut my expenses even further."

"And how many children do you have?" the beggar asks.

"Four," the man replies.

"Well," says the beggar, "I hope you don't plan to educate them all at my expense."



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