The institution of Begging

By Sikander Salahuddin and Haroon Rashid
The intuition of begging is very rich in complexity though the beggars are considered the most trivial objects in our world, unfit for serious thought. It is only upon reflection that we come to gradually unfold the superficial exterior of begging and reach its real inner core, which is intriguing, complex, interesting and multidimensional.
Often an approaching beggar is dismissed with a scorn; his beseeching hand simply puts us off. He doesn’t impress us at all. The manner he comes to us with the apparent aim of evoking our emotions of pity make him look nothing more than a cheat. A beggar doesn’t impress because he doesn’t look like a successful man, His failure and fault is his poverty. He lies at the end of our social ladder, he is the one who in our competitive driven world can’t compete or doesn’t want to. With his empty pocket and haggard looks he is totally unimportant. Lying at our mercy, a victim of our whim, he can instantly be rewarded or could` be dismissed with a harsh word.
This is the most common stereotype of a beggar. But there are more things to him too which make him interesting in his own right. In the first place, the beggar is a brilliant psychologist, he turns upside down the normal ideas and notions of the world, the way, the manner, we the normal human beings think of human physical deformities and infirmities. And then with brilliant stroke of logic he uses them to his or her advantage. We often take pity when see someone physically or mentally handicapped and disabled. The proud among us born with such handicaps try to overcome the physical defect or some hide them and present themselves as normal human beings. Beggar on the other hand makes his physical handicaps and deformities more prominent and the defining character of his personality. It is a common sight to see beggars lying on the roadside showing their handicapped parts to the passers by with the aim of evoking their pity. Why they do that? Simply for the reason that such things move humans to pity. Same is the case if we see small children orphaned at early age. Beggar use this human feeling of compassion and pity for his advantage too. Many of women take their small children around while on begging spree and present themselves being widowed with small children. In short, pity is what they want us to feel for them. This is his or her main instrument and weapon. And what stands correct for individual beggar becomes same for normal individuals or at bigger scale for the governments in certain cases. Countries in indeed of money resort to the same tactics to extract money from the donor agencies. I remember many foreign dignitaries visited Pakistan when a massive earthquake struck northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005. Many of the earthquake affectees were brought to relief camps in Islamabad and housed in refugee camps. Among the afectees there were women widowed, children orphaned, and many people becoming handicapped for life. The rich foreign dignitaries were purposely shown around the human tragedy being unfolded in the wake of colossal tragedy wrought by earthquake. The aim, purpose and impulse were the same which drive a beggar. Though Pakistani authorizes would loath to even think of acting the role of a beggar, but this was the role they played.
Feeling compassion and pity for the people in real suffering is natural, but even the reservoirs of pity dry up when one is confronted on daily basis by professional beggars using various tricks to extract money out of other’s pockets. Many of such beggars could earn their living in a decent manner, provided they have a will and determination but they don’t and prefer the easy way. The efforts of the government, of the social reformers in many such cases prove futile. Doesn’t it mean that beggars are the product of a sort of the Darwinian natural selection, of the natural division of society, into the one who are powerful and who on account of their personal drive, initiative and ability carve out their own destiny and reach to the very top, and the beggars and their likes who merely live on the fringes of life and are reduced to crump and morsels which others throw at them.

For beggars it is all a way of life, he doesn’t have to swallow his pride because he as a matter of fact has no pride. Selfhood and personal pride have been wiped out in his personality, he no longer is moved by the conventions and modes of thought which propel normal human beings to become high achievers in life and attain a life of great status and wealth. Most of us try to present ourselves as highly respectable, hide our all faults and failings, and give a good account of ourselves even to the point of lying, simulation and hypocrisy. We do that because the society we live in doesn’t consider the weakness a mark of success. And so people trying to build up their great image in the hearts and minds of others tell others things, which in reality bear no resemblance to truth. This is because showing oneself in stark reality in front of others might be an unpleasant truth. We try to dress up nicely when we go in public only for the reason that our false self takes the better of us, though in our own home we are not bothered by such niceties. The great beggar stands at the very opposite end on the spectrum. On the question of selfhood, personal pride and honor he has no claims. Such claims are the reserve and domain of the mainstream life, driven by ambition, power, and struggle.
Times have changed, the empires have come and gone, the world saw the advent of the age of science, man climbed to the moon, but the institution of begging is still stayed with us, remaining unaffected by the fast changing world and showing great resilience in spite of our efforts .Perhaps begging is too deep rooted a trait of human personality to be uprooted with acts of legislature or the efforts of the society. And for the same reasons the beggars might stay with us in future as well.