To whom honour is due
An all time classic tale is told in Russia of a beggar who approached someone for alms. “Sorry my brother, I have no money to give you” said the man. “Brother? Ah that’s ok,” replied the beggar “you’ve already given me more than I could have hoped for”. Are you confused? Perhaps you need to read through this then.
Over the years, several issues have kept me up at night as I ponder and ponder and continually agonize over them, the big ‘why’s of my life I call them. Some of them are frankly none of your business; just my personal little unmet desires, regrets, ‘what if?’s and ‘why did?’s. Others however are thankfully more altruistic including the matter of why this world needs underprivileged people in the first place. Why should anyone’s livelihood have to depend on our unreliable kindness? Would it not have been better if we all were in a position to provide for ourselves? Why are people born cripple, destitute and otherwise disadvantaged? Why is the world structured to be divided into the categories of ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’? Like I said I ponder and ponder. But the fact is that life is like that. Even as I contemplate this matter academically, I have concluded that this side of eternity it will never make sense; all I can do is contribute my little quota towards easing the situation. There are of course those, overwhelmed by a sense of their own importance, who have decided, as a matter of policy, that the less privileged are less than human.
When slave traders began exploiting the African continent it helped their consciences to believe that our people were not in fact human. The women therefore felt no embarrassment at being naked (making up after bathing or just lounging) in their rooms in full glare of the naked “monkeys’ cleaning up the rooms. Did they find out whether or not we are human? Ask the several half-caste babies that were born to them a few months thereafter!
And so I’m wondering: does my attitude uplift the less privileged or drive them further into the dust? And you nko? Do you diss and despise the “have-nots” because you have more? After all, you are better than they, right? Wrong!
You’ve had better luck. Being born in better circumstances and having had a better education has brought better opportunities. Or perhaps you’re a hustler with better instincts than average and scraped your way up to a better existence. Any which way, a better job has meant much better pay and consequently a better standard of living as in better shelter, better clothes and better food - better this and better that. But none of this means you are INHERENTLY better.
No matter how high and noble your birth, no matter how windy your airs, the demarcation between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is really quite simple: God alone is the “Have”, the rest of us are “have-nots”, period.
Everybody in a commercial bus watched on helplessly as one madam railed endlessly at the conductor for daring to touch her. All pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears. What finally shut her up was the 5-word retort of the conductor, “Madam, I’m a human being”. My point is everyone deserves respect simply because they are human. We are created in God’s image and therefore our value is intrinsic. The important thing is who we are not what we have or do. That - I guess - is why we are called human beings not human doings.
If you’re privileged be thankful for privilege is a privilege.
Over the years, several issues have kept me up at night as I ponder and ponder and continually agonize over them, the big ‘why’s of my life I call them. Some of them are frankly none of your business; just my personal little unmet desires, regrets, ‘what if?’s and ‘why did?’s. Others however are thankfully more altruistic including the matter of why this world needs underprivileged people in the first place. Why should anyone’s livelihood have to depend on our unreliable kindness? Would it not have been better if we all were in a position to provide for ourselves? Why are people born cripple, destitute and otherwise disadvantaged? Why is the world structured to be divided into the categories of ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’? Like I said I ponder and ponder. But the fact is that life is like that. Even as I contemplate this matter academically, I have concluded that this side of eternity it will never make sense; all I can do is contribute my little quota towards easing the situation. There are of course those, overwhelmed by a sense of their own importance, who have decided, as a matter of policy, that the less privileged are less than human.
When slave traders began exploiting the African continent it helped their consciences to believe that our people were not in fact human. The women therefore felt no embarrassment at being naked (making up after bathing or just lounging) in their rooms in full glare of the naked “monkeys’ cleaning up the rooms. Did they find out whether or not we are human? Ask the several half-caste babies that were born to them a few months thereafter!
And so I’m wondering: does my attitude uplift the less privileged or drive them further into the dust? And you nko? Do you diss and despise the “have-nots” because you have more? After all, you are better than they, right? Wrong!
You’ve had better luck. Being born in better circumstances and having had a better education has brought better opportunities. Or perhaps you’re a hustler with better instincts than average and scraped your way up to a better existence. Any which way, a better job has meant much better pay and consequently a better standard of living as in better shelter, better clothes and better food - better this and better that. But none of this means you are INHERENTLY better.
No matter how high and noble your birth, no matter how windy your airs, the demarcation between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is really quite simple: God alone is the “Have”, the rest of us are “have-nots”, period.
Everybody in a commercial bus watched on helplessly as one madam railed endlessly at the conductor for daring to touch her. All pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears. What finally shut her up was the 5-word retort of the conductor, “Madam, I’m a human being”. My point is everyone deserves respect simply because they are human. We are created in God’s image and therefore our value is intrinsic. The important thing is who we are not what we have or do. That - I guess - is why we are called human beings not human doings.
If you’re privileged be thankful for privilege is a privilege.
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