A group of men came along the street; heavily armed soldiers leading a condemned man to the gallows.
"That man is no good," said a disciple to Nasrudin. "I once gave him a silver coin in order to help him start his life afresh, and he did nothing important."
"He may be no good, but perhaps he is now on his way to the gallows because of you," argued the master. "Perhaps he used the alms in order to buy a dagger, which he then used in committing his crime-because instead of helping him with love and care, you chose to give him alms in order to release yourself from your obligation."
an excerpt from Warrior of the Light
by Paulo Coelho
found as a free download through Stanza
*****
Mullah Nasrudin, Coelho explains, is the central figure in many of the anecdotal stories told in the Sufi ( the mystical sect of Islam) tradition. Much like the figure of Socrates in the Platonic Dialogues, Nasrudin delivers wisdom to his pupils, or disciples, through stories and cautionary tales.
I happen to like this particular story because giving money as a means of assuaging my need to help others was very much my modus operandi during the days I actually had money to give away. You name a charity, and I gave to it. Come the annual United Way campaign, I was the first one to fill out the gift form and turn it in, proudly wearing my stupid little plastic pin that proclaimed, "Look at me! I am generous and caring towards those less fortunate than myself!"
Every Christmas, when it was time to sign up to purchase gifts to donate to a child in need, my name was first and last on the list. To paraphrase the orphan kid from Pee Wee's Big Adventure who had just been adopted, "I want to give, sister!" And after turning in my tastefully wrapped and overly priced packages, promptly forgot about the families I had just donated to and wandered off to the mall to buy a gift for me.
Church raffles, church donations, Girl Scouts, candy bar sales, I did it all, patting myself on the back for "helping".
But was I really?
Were money and expensive items really going to help anyone? Sure, you could argue that the governing bodies that I had donated to would make sure the money did some good for the right people. But I think Nasrudin is suggesting that we each have an obligation. Not a monetary obligation, or a legal obligation, but rather, a moral one. A human one.
If a person who is in need appears in our lives, Nasrudin is saying that we need to care about them, love them, help them in a real sense. This very much goes against what we in our Western Civilization believe. Our culture says that each man is responsible for himself. If a man is struggling, it's because he isn't working hard enough. It's his own fault that his needs aren't being met, so tough luck. I have mine, and it's not my problem that you don't have yours. Move along.
The Sufi mystics have a far different philosophy. Each of us has the ability to make a difference in lives around us. So, what will each of us do?
Flick a coin at them and declare, "Hit the road," a la Bugs Bunny? Or be a channel for love and concern?
