Source: Goonj
Recently Goonj, an NGO which works on various fronts such as assisting rural communities with basic needs like sanitary pad, cloths and tools to work and providing basic necessities during various calamities shared a heart- breaking post on their Facebook page showing what people actually sent them in the name of contribution. They received rotten Pooja materials, blood soaked undergarments, broken utensils of no use, rotten food items, stained clothes etc.
At first we could not believe how people could be so apathetic and cheap minded. But we see such thing happening around us every day. We live in a vicious cycle of blame-game, inactivity, irresponsibility, indifference and apathy. You can hear sentences like “Sarkar nikammi hai/ is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta” ( the government is lazy, no good can happen to this country) in everyday conversations, but do we ever think “ham kitane nikamme hai, desh ko banane aur bigadane wala kon hai”. (How lazy we are! Who is responsible for making or breaking this country?)
We have become so selfish and egoistical that neither we do anything good nor do we let others do. We find faults, interests, and way to pull down others in their work. This is not just a cynical analysis but the harsh reality of the majority in our society.
Let us take an example of our own efforts, if there is any political, controversial or religious post, there are thousands of comments for and against, and thousands of likes & shares of the post. However, if we put any humanitarian post about supporting/helping any cause all of you suddenly disappear. Out of 3.7 million community members, just few hundreds come forward.
As of today, we are a strong community of more than 37 lakh members. If we contribute just Rs. 1 a month, we can easily light up 10,000 homes in remote corners of India every month. Millions of people are still living in the dark. That is the power of your one rupee. But who cares! Let someone else do it! Taking money out of our pocket is too painful.
When we ask you to just sign petitions or send an email to PM/Authorities for any cause or change, we get very few responses.
If we get 37 lakh signs on any petition, then we can force the government to make a change. But why to make the effort to sign the petition, someone else will do it, isn’t it?
Check this- we requested everyone to send a letter to Rajnath Singh and Maneka Gandhi to release compensation for the acid attack survivors, but the response was not really up to the expectations. It was lukewarm. Even then we were able to get the compensation for Rekha.
Save Life Foundation is an NGO which got the Good Samaritan Law Passed, they came with Road Safety Laws for better traffic laws and safety on road. We shared many posts appealing everyone to sign the petition, but out of 37 lakh members, we got less than 10,000 signatures. It simply shows that we believe in just complaining and not making any efforts for change.
Recently, we launched #EndAcidSale campaign in association with an NGO, Make Love Not Scars. We requested you to sign the petition. We got immense support from international media, however support from our own community members was very disappointing.
The above mentioned are just few examples out of our many efforts. We sincerely request you to take part in our efforts. The responsibility lies on each one of us. We believe in collective efforts – united we stand, divided we fall.
When it comes to donations please come forward, select any cause you feel for and donate. Donate the stuffs which you yourselves can use. Respect others – they are not there to take your insult – have empathy and put yourselves in their shoes. If you can’t contribute and encourage, at least don’t insult and belittle the work of others and break their morale.
Take responsibility, stick together and most importantly, let us take a pledge to encourage those who do good, and be the change!
– The Logical Indian Team
