When I was young. I could never understand why kindness was greeted with contempt. Nor could I understand why being nice would so often result in violence, actual or threatened. It seemed so strange that the world was set up to favour the strong, brazen and self-assured.
As for those who go out of their way to help others? It seems that society looks down on them, writing them off as weak-minded folk, to be perpetually mocked and derided. To me, everything is back-to-front, with bold bad behaviour everywhere rewarded.
It all just seems so inimical to the way things should be, wherein the strong take care of the weak, as prescribed by our traditions of faith.
Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but true righteousness is one who believes in God… and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveller, those who ask for help, and for freeing slaves…
From Quran 2:177
Who is there who will actually run to the aid of those now despised by society, against whom our most popular newspapers daily rally with a loud denunciation? Who now will stand with the weak and vulnerable, who don’t stand a chance? Who will stand up against the rising clamour which seeks once more to diminish the poorest, in favour of the rich and powerful?
Last modified: 13 November 2022
