When 'Giving' Matters

Teacher: "All my alms, all my doles I must bestow, /In me lies a human who has wealth to sow." What do you make of it?

Student: Yes Sir, I get the point. One must spread and distribute what one has in order to get happiness. Happiness lies in sharing.

[The student looks rather unconvincing when he says these words.]

Teacher: Hmm, you do not seem to be very convinced my boy. What are you thinking?

Student: Sir, it is all very fine - this sharing and caring thing. But one must look at the world today. Don't we need to be rich? If we are not wealthy, who will care for us? Who will respect us?

[The teacher is unaffected, smiles a bit and then replies...]

Teacher: I tell you one thing. This is fact and I am not lying. I am sixty years old and have been seen more than five decades of society. I have seen its ups and downs. I have read newspapers, tried to understand events. From the days of telegraph and telegram, I have come to the days of smartphone. Believe me, money has always been an important thing. It has always been. But I have never seen the greed that I see today.

Student: Sir, what makes you feel that way?

Teacher: Because you see it seems like most of the people have made a priority list in their lives where the first, second, third, fourth items are money and only money.

[The student's eyes sharpen, his rush of blood is easily visible, he is thirty years younger than his old teacher who harbors old thoughts and old values. He fails to keep quiet – a habit that boys and girls of his age have I common. He stops his teacher, he interrupts him and speaks out..... ]

Student: Sir, we are living in an age of technology and connectivity – and you know that. We are living in an age where maximum number of people have come out of poverty; an International Agency confirms this.

Teacher: So, you mean to say that your generation is perhaps luckier than the others?

Student: We are in a generation that has seen maximum industrialization, maximum urbanization and minimum conflicts. I am your student and so I have an idea of what is right and what is wrong. I am taught to appreciate the good and question the wrong. How can I not feel proud of the benefits of a wealthy and connected global village that we see today?

Teacher: Well well! I am also happy to see all that. I do not disagree. I do share the same opinion that a wealthy society is a peaceful society. I have been made to believe that economy is the strongest tool to solve conflicts. Therefore, I am fully aligned there.

Student: But then what exactly is your concern?

Teacher: My question is – from the broader perspective of mankind, are we paying enough attention to distribute this strength? I am not in favor of distributing wealth. I am rather in favor of distributing possibilities, opportunities and resources to those that need the most.

Student: Sir, this is clearly a wishful thinking.

Teacher: These opportunities can be created out of proper distribution of wealth, out of charity, and out of a mindset to help the needy – that is all I wish. Can’t we divide your ‘global village’ into two parts – one that is educated and one that is not? Or, one that has primary healthcare and one that does not? Or, one that has access to a proper shelter and one that does not?

Student: Is that possible?

Teacher: Why not? How can it be that some parts of the world still live in the nineteenth century? Also, where is the limit to this? How enough is good enough? Can we get ourselves in trouble by not knowing where to stop?

Student: Sir, now you please tell me about the consequences.

Teacher: Oh yes. Definitely. What do we see now? A rich is getting richer, a rich country is getting richer, a rich region is getting richer – but there is no limit to this. Isn’t it the case that opportunities and resources are getting stored in the hands of a few? While there is no set limit for the rich, there is no set target to pull the poor out of their distress either. You say that poor is coming out of poverty. But where? Can it be that 'where to give' is also being decided by 'who is giving'?

Student: I have heard these things many times Sir, and I am afraid, I do not agree. Whoever is giving matters the least. At least wealth is flowing, it is getting regenerated and people are feeling more and more satisfied.

Teacher: Listen my boy! Happiness from wealth is temporary. It is never fulfilling. Happiness from the finer aspects of life is stable. It is much stronger and long-lasting.

 [The teacher takes a little pause!]

Teacher: In my college days, I had a friend whose father went bankrupt after leaving his job and trying his luck in business. My friend was against his father's wishes from the beginning. In the end, when all was over, and the family was struggling, one day I met him at a train station.

My friend had become half-mad by then. He had ten rupees in his pocket, and he gave away one each to each handicapped beggar that he saw at the platform till he had nothing left with him. He felt so happy that he could help ten people that needed the most, for, he knew, he will earn those ten back one day. He can work with two hands and a brain. He is not deprived to the worst possible extent like those beggars.

[The student looks on]

Teacher: The capable, the rich and the established nations will anyways keep growing. No one can stop them. But the ones that need a tiny bit of help to turn things around, and the ones that are so cursed that they cannot get anywhere on their own, need to be looked after. Given this small help, they can turn things around. Again, I am not advocating the act of giving money, but as long as I live, I will support the act of giving opportunities to all.