Can we be humane and humble ?

I have read a story of a lady who help a dirty old man off the street and provide him a decent breakfast and I have read of a lady who extend her clean hands to touch a dirty street urchin. Can we lower our self esteem to dwell among the poor, destitute and stinky folks.

In India,  the Ganges is full of dirt, rubbish and ashes of deceased  and yet, thousands of Indians carry out their morning prayer and wishing in the Ganges. Their faith is so strong that however polluted the Ganges is, it is still bearable to these faithfuls. Doing the daily ritual there is also a bring a person to their senses and reduce their egoistic feelings of self importance.

I was in Bangladesh and my colleague in the new joint venture company told me that he has advertised to recruit workers and hundreds rush to be interviewed for a position of 60 people. He told me that most the workers have 10 years experience and their age is only 23 years old and their physical appearance is like a 40 years old. Their life span and expectancy is very low and the most difficult thing is that they are very smelly. Some of them have not been taken bath for a few days and they are very stinky and it is almost unbearable.  After the interview, they need to use perfume spray to clear off the smell to make the office more bearable.

For this, I can vouch that he is telling the truth.  In December 2010, my previous trip to Bangladesh, my colleague and I went for scouting in the outskirt of Bangladesh.  The name of the place is Palash. We drove for one hour to reach Palash and we need to cross the river.  To do so, they have a wooden boat with a motor to sent us across the river. It was managed by a boat man. When we reach the other side of the river, we have to walk a blank to reach the shore and this boat man will be there to hold our hands as we walk the wooden blank and he had the smell of a person who have not been taken birth for ages and his hands are so dirty. I almost vomited but I managed to hold back.

On one side, you are taught to be understanding , loving and passionate but we have to ask the question why. There is no reason to have the smell of a caveman or a similar smell of a dead rat. It is a basic hygiene issue.  Why can these people just take a regular bath and keep a clean image ? Why is it so difficult ? Just because they are heart broken or broke , can they maintain some  decency and hygiene ?
It is not only a matter of compassion and love, it is a matter of being responsible and fair to the human race. Why do we have to throw rubbish everywhere when there is a dustbin ? All of us have to chip in and make this world a better place for us to live in. If you can organize the things on your desk within minutes why you need to have a disorganized desk ?  Plain lazy and irresponsible.

My point in this message is that if there are good reasons to be compassionate and loving, we should  go all out to it but it is an irresponsible act or laziness, we should blindly do it just to show the whole world we are caring. Everybody have a part to play and lets play it fairly.

Namaste.