Begging - An Art Or Creative Skill
Art refers to an expression or an application of human creative skill and imagination. It is usually concerned with the processes and products of human creativity in social life. Being one of the most striking feature used in the human society it has various dimensions, and is currently supporting the concept of begging. Beggars have existed in human society since we started recording our history. It has happened in most societies around the world, though its prevalence and form vary. The Greeks have distinguished between the “passive poor” or “beggars” and the “active poor”, with the later being accorded a higher social status nowadays!
Begging is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, with little or no expectation or reciprocation. Commonly begging should be directly related to poverty, where an individual is deprived from their basic necessities. Unemployment, illness or losing of an organ/limb, old age, greed, unfulfilled desires, lack of resources, and laziness are some of the major reasons for begging. Earlier the main aim of the beggar was to enable them to survive or improve the quality of their life. Supposedly, nowadays begging has become an art rather than a genuine need. Generally, begging involves a request for money from the passers, but nowadays beggars also request for other things, such as food, clothing, or material possessions. Beggars may be found in public places, such as transport routes, parks, and near busy markets. The government has been making certain efforts by creating some jobs as to reduce the number of beggars, but the complete elimination is still a goal yet to reach.
One recent incident that i can recall occurred near my college, where i encountered a young girl who kept on following me, and asking me to buy her milk. On enquiring she told me that she is in need of food, a shelter, and clothes, which made her beg . This created a dilemma for me, as it became difficult to decide how can i help this little girl and eliminate the concept of begging from her mind. Thats when i made a call to one of my friends who is associated with several NGO’s, and i made sure that she was comfortable with the environment and received every basic necessity that she was looking for. I visited her after two weeks and was glad to see how her mental state had changed and was far away from the concept of begging.
Religious begging is also very common which has been carried on from centuries. Many religions have prescribed begging as the only acceptable means of support for certain classes of devotees, including Christianity, Hinduism, Sufi Islam, Buddhism, and Jainism, typically to provide a way for certain devotees to focus exclusively on spiritual development without the possibility of becoming caught up in worldly affairs.
With various approaches towards begging also comes various perspectives on the concept begging. One of the beliefs regarding begging is that it should be restricted or prohibited at certain times and for various reasons, with the aim of preserving the public order in the society. People should be induced to work rather than beg for economic or moral reasons. It is important to induce a working attitude in people in order to prevent the misuse of the funds they collect from begging, and use it for any kind of abuse. Thus, it is advisable to give beggars gift cards or vouchers for food or services and not cash. This approach will make people independent of people. On the other hand, it is also important to be pleasant to the beggars as we are not aware of the exact reason for their practice of begging. Overall begging cannot be eliminated completely until a sense of work does not exist in the mind of people living in a particular society, which cannot be achieved without the cooperation from the other half who are the educated and sensible part of the society.
