While almost everyone had highly positive reactions to the photo and story of the flower seller I posted a couple of days back, there was one reaction on a share of that photo that got me thinking - ----------------------------- Illegal shop who is a footpath robber has inspired you to do good! Very good! I am happy. I hope you will now inspire them to move to a small legal shop and give us back the footpath for our citizens to walk safely please! ----------------------------- Yes, we dont know whether she has a piece of paper or not that allows her to sit there, but calling her an illegal footpath robber? Have we become this insensitive? Does anyone think she would choose to sit there if she had access to a small legal shop as is so glibly suggested? Does she have the resources to get a small legal shop? Are there any economic structures in place that can help her do that? Will the gentleman who made that suggestion advance her a loan that will enable her to get a shop? Yes, obviously the law and all that, and the mention of hawkers causes extremely polarizing reactions in our law-abiding citizens, but I think a distinction must be made between people encroaching on a public space out of greed and people doing so out of necessity. And we must cut a lot of slack for the latter. I would rather have her sitting there selling flowers, be it ever so illegally, than have her (or her brother/husband/son) take to petty thievery or worse to make a living, or dope her kids and take to begging. Instead, she has taken the more difficult but morally honest path. And that must be celebrated rather than mocked. IMHO.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 05:26:12 +0000
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