Essay, Paragraph, Speech on “Thoughtless Alms giving” Long, Short Essay for School, College Students, essay for Class 8, 9, 10, 12 and Competitive Exams

Thoughtless Alms giving

The word “alms” comes from a Greek word meaning pity: and, apart form the idea of the religious duty of giving alms, all naturally kind hearted people find true joy in helping those whose poverty and distress move their pity. They learn the truth of the saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” But alms should be given carefully and thoughtfully; for thoughtless alms giving may do more harm than good.

Indiscriminate charity encourages idleness and hypocrisy, and pauperizes the poor. To give a few annas to a beggar may ease one’s conscience, but it leaves the problem of poverty unsolved. To do the poor any real good, we must know them ‘and their circumstances, and try to relieve them in a way that will really help them without making their miserable state worse. But to find out the really deserving cases, to decide whether money, or food, or work, or medicine, is the kind of help needed, requires a lot of time, toil and patience, an amount of trouble which we are not always prepared to take. It is easier to throw a beggar a coin, and, with the feeling that we have done our duty, go on our way and forget all about him.

In India, begging is so widespread, and so strongly entrenched in religious custom, that it forms a very serious social problem. A large number of the Indian Fakirs or professional beggars, are able-boded men who could support themselves by honest work if they wanted to do so. But they find it much easier to live idle lives, depending on the charity of those who have to work for a living. They get all they want; for people are afraid to refuse them, and feel it is a religious duty to give to those who pretend to be holy men. The number of these able-bodied beggars is so great that a large part of the population of the country is producing nothing, and feeding like drones in the hive on the wealth produced by the toil of the rest.

The problem of poverty is complicated and difficult. It will never be solved by promiscuous and thoughtless alms giving. Wise laws, a reform of social customs, and a great deal more thought and trouble on the part of the charitably minded, will be necessary, before the problem can be even touched.