A few nights ago on the news, I watched a segment on poor, uneducated women in India, who are being hired by westerners to carry their children in uteros. The Indian organization in charge of this particular program is behaving abominably in that they pay the women a fraction of what the ‘wanna be’ parents are paying them, and there is zero coverage for the woman or her family should something go awry.
What a strange dark scenario for a new life to be ushered in by.
Once upon a time ago, my dad’s humanitarian work in India, included educating the poor to recognize scam artists and swindlers. When one is poor, one is vulnerable, and dangling pots of gold in front of one’s nose is a powerful seduction.. I understand this cellularly now, immediate survival eradicates grounded long term knowing. This is the personal challenge and the responsibility of society.
Twenty years ago, my parents and I returned to India, as well into his 80’s, my father’s work continued. We drove out into the countryside and were greeted with smiling faces and dripping tender coconuts, just as the sun was setting. The entire village, including water buffaloes meandering in from the fields, draped around each other and sat in a circle around a fire. Then a group of college students ran into the center with hoopla and high energy bantering. They were acting out skits, demonstrating the woes and resulting demise of falling for pots of gold being offered for land, thus taking away all hopes of future livelihood.
The preying of the rich on the poor.
The next time you see a poor person, try putting your hands together and say ‘Namaste’. This means ‘the divine in me, greets the divine in you’. And if you’re not comfortable with this, do it in your mind.