Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Our Attitude Towards Our 'Helpers'

Servants, nannies, cooks, gardeners, gate keepers etc., how do we treat them all? Do we really think they are humans and should be given an equal place like any other living person? A very common scene when we go out to eat in any restaurant is that a family sitting on a table enjoying their food,and somebody sitting alone on another table either having food or just babysitting the mischievous kids. Don’t you ever think how do they feel sitting on the next table feeding your kids? How would you feel if you are made to do this? Not at all good, I am sure.

Many people give an excuse that people like ‘these’ deserve it. God made them like this or it’s their own fault that they are illiterate. There sure is a percentage of people who don’t study themselves but then there are many who cannot afford the expenses of getting educated. The thing is God did give them what He wanted but then ordered US, the privileged ones, to take care of them. God asked us to give them a fair share of our income and that’s not just like that; it’s in return of the services they provide.

What is our general attitude towards the people who work for us? I have never heard a living person praising his/her servant. What we always hear or say is what he does NOT do. Never heard anybody saying my servant is really good, helps me a lot, comes on time etc. Worse than that is, whenever you find anything missing at your place; you always blame it on them. Why do we always think that the poor will always steal and do bad things? Why don’t we take them as normal human beings? Many of them are much more honest than their masters who sit in the comfort of their offices and bribe or do other things like that to earn more money.

Let us think for a second, what if all these people stop working for us. Will a
man who ridicules his servant be able to ‘make’ his wife do all the daily chores what his servant used to do for him? Or will a woman will want to stay home, give a pause to her kitty parties and do all the stuff? If you think of all the possible things you will HAVE to do once all these domestic servants give up on you, you sure will be thankful to them. Accept the fact that they are more like helpers to us all.

There sure is an international labour's day but did we ever realise who enjoys that international holiday? Its US, we are the ones who sit home on that day. We are the labour to somebody too, I agree, but then they are too. Shouldn't they be given a day off too? Most of us make them do more work than any other day because that's when you are home and can make them do it, yourself. They work harder than most of us. They deserve it more.

It’s not just that the servants are verbally humiliated; many domestic servants are, physically and sexually, abused too. It just does not happen in Asia, but everywhere. It is a very common practice in the Middle East that the servants are ‘imported’ from their countries and then kept in the countries forcefully. They are not allowed to go back unless their masters allow them. They are not only beaten up by the adults but by the little kids too. Some of the stories of the worst torturing come out but many go unnoticed.

There are many things we can do for them. First and the foremost is, STOP thinking they are any less than you. They are equally human as you are, or maybe more. After that, you can help them now and again financially. We all know what we pay them as their monthly salary does nothing much for them. We can get them new dresses on special occasions or just give them extra money so that they don’t feel less privileged. We can get their children married. We all say they are illiterate, but then who is to be blamed for that? We have money, we can get our children educated from any institute we want but they can’t. Most of us can finance their children’s education quite easily, but we don’t. Did you ever think why? Maybe because we think that the ‘servant’s kid’ will grow up one day to compete ‘our kid’? Why don’t we make our kids competent enough instead of snubbing others' children?

Do you think that the things or money you have today will remain with you forever? Is there any surety that it will? I don’t think there is any. The bread winner of the family who you are so proud of today can, God forbid, die or get paralyzed. Or if not that, floods, earthquakes or any other natural calamity can wash away all of it for you. You never know where that can take you. If we look around, we get to see many who, had everything yesterday, are forced to beg and steal today. Be careful when you degrade others, you can’t ever say when it can get it to you. There is no guarantee to anything. If you have everything today, you never know you end up with nothing at all tomorrow. Walk in their shoes a few miles to know how worst it hurts.

YOU CAN VIEW THE SIMILAR POST AT WRITING FOR A CAUSE

20 comments:

  1. Sara, this post is way too good. Thought provoking and intense but at the same corny in a good way.

    Keep writing.

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  2. I always like your topics. Great job once again

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  3. a good piece...i agree with you that most of the masters do not respect there workers as they should but then there are always those who do. and then there are those workers that take advantage of the good of the master. As i am the original anonymous i can say that i have been taken advantage of many times and its not that i am a fool its just that whenever they come to me and ask for help i ask myself what if on the day of judgment Allah asks me that he/she came to you and you had the means to help them but you chose not to? what would i say?

    i will stop now as i have written a little article here myself. In the end its not that bad.

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  4. A nice piece of humanitarian nature. No doubt man is, still, in this age of socalled enlightenment and modernity, humiliated and treated badly. Same the people of elite class keep their dogs more beloved and immensely cared.

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  5. Another case of not following Islam the way it should be followed. If people would've followed it, they would've known the respect shown to the servants.

    Hazrat Umar RadiALLAHU Anhu once declined an invitation because of the host not treating his servant well.

    Nice topic btw :)

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  6. @Munir sahab, ironic it is sir. they do not realize that if they think of their servants lower than dogs, they too are humans and should be classified in the same category

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  7. Rehney ko ghar nahein hai SARA ney marr dala...((((SARA))))

    Abbi is very wrong in comparing humans with PETs...there is a relationship with pets based on love and affection...it is better not to have or show that affection to your help...:((

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  8. I agree to the most. In our society we are typical case of racist society. We not only misbehave with servants but on larger canvas lowers castes & communities. Only here we have terms like 'Choora','Musali' and 'Merassi' etc.

    We have inherited this attitude from ancient Hindu culture and kept it following. And the most regretting fact is it increase with the level of education whereas its expected to be decreasing.

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  9. We all humans are equal have same rights, and love, care and respect are things we all expect so treat others as you want to be treated... :)

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  10. True that all we do is complain and don't think for a moment about their situation.

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  11. Kudos to you for another brilliant write-up on one of the major issue of society we are living in.
    Yep, no-one can guarantee the future status of him/her so one should treat his/her helps with kindness, tolerate their mistakes occur while helping him/her and be generous to them via helping them in return. We should contribute to our helpers’ lives via sharing our meals/clothes/shelters or by educating their children to make this world a better place to live for generations to come.

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  12. Sara! you impressed me, You always write about any critical topic. Generally our attitude vary with people's success in terms of cash. Ridiculously, we didn't treat people as a humain being. We always estimate the people on the terms of cash. And most disappoint fact is; Education can't change the attitude of People (specially feudals)

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  13. thanx all for the kind comments and adding more to my post =)

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  14. Awesome work :)
    Really loved it. My heart bleeds when I see the mistreatment of underprivileged. These ignorant people deserve harsh words. God help us all.

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  15. Ma'shaAllah, a well needed topic. Alhamdillah, my mother taught me long ago to treat maids with respect, dignity and compassion. I swear, I have seen my mother tell the maid to 'rest' while she (my mother) continued 'cleaning' the place, herself. Ma'shaAllah!

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  16. thanx zeeshan and my little frnd =)

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  17. hmm. very thought provoking!!

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  19. Absolutely marvellous!! i really appreciate your work....Keep Up the Good works!!:)

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