Mahmoud Ahmad
THE recent story of an old Bangladeshi cleaning worker being mocked at by a social media user that triggered an outpouring of support from well wishers while making him rich in a matter of hours revealed starkly the two sides of a society once again while also bringing to us in full force that for every mean and nefarious act there are virtuous people who take up the cudgels for humanity.
The Bangladeshi labor was photographed standing outside a gold store looking at an expensive gold set. The picture of this poor worker went viral after an unknown man who had no name, identity or manners wrote under the picture: “This is as far as you can go. You can only look at the garbage.”
Such racist and inhuman comments can come only from an individual whose innate nature is selfish and callous while also not being disciplined in life. In addition, such people show incredible ignorance and a readiness to voice their insular views without any compunction. It is people like these who abuse humanity with impunity.
There was a silver lining in the incident revealing that the golden gift of giving is still alive and throbbing in the society and this was evident from the positive outcome following this incident. The swift public outrage and the society’s reaction to this whole incident was heart warming such that those seeking to be abusive and racist are sure to face the full blast of goodness from a big section of the society.
Immediately after the picture and comment went viral, Saudis launched a search campaign to find this worker. What brought tears to our eyes was the level of compassion shown to this cleaner by people showering him with golden gifts and mobile phones. I am sure that the worker would have never imagined that he would be holding so many gold sets and mobiles. He would have never dreamt, even in his wildest dreams, of buying such gold sets with his meager salary. It was a clear response to that ignorant comment showing that society is still full of good and compassionate people.
I looked at the picture of the cleaning worker looking at the jewelry in the gold store wistfully and wondered what really was going through his mind at that time. Was he wishing that he would be able to afford to gift gold to his wife or daughters when his salary was very low? Was he thinking how could he give a gold set when he did not receive his salary for many months? Or was he simply standing there trying to imagine how could people buy such expensive gold sets and do people actually have this much money?
The person who wrote this racist comment must not have read or heard the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) saying, “O people, your Lord is one and your father Adam is one. There is no virtue of an Arab over a foreigner nor a foreigner over an Arab, and neither white skin over black skin nor black skin over white skin, except by righteousness. Have I not delivered the message?” They said, “The Messenger of Allah has delivered the message.” This person and his ilk must have also not heard the Prophet’s saying, “No one who has the weight of a seed of arrogance in his heart will enter Paradise.”
What makes such individuals think that they have superiority over people because of their wealth, family name or even nationality when we all in front of Allah were created equal? This person, or people like him, does not know that on the Day of Judgment they have to answer to Allah for their actions and deeds. Such people should know that arrogance and looking down on people is a sickness that’s abhorred by many while also not realizing that by acting this way they are only downgrading themselves. We need to create an awareness against racism, especially such racism against the underprivileged, and it has to start from home, sustained by school and emphasized by society.
The sympathy this poor cleaner evoked from society should not be a one-off affair or a passing phase effected by people wanting the feel good factor. It should continue toward anyone and everyone who is in poor condition or deserving of help. It is such good deeds that provide hope for the underprivileged.
Like I said before in a previous article, written more than three years ago, “Cleaning workers are the ones that we should respect first and honor and thank them for what they do. They do it in silence and get no word of appreciation in addition to their meager pay. I urge officials to reconsider their salaries and do something to change it and make it worth living.”
To those who brought joy and happiness to this particular cleaning worker we say thank you very much and you will get rewarded on the Day of Judgment for your spontaneous and selfless act. We also salute you for being a living model of philanthropy and goodness. We need good example like you in our society, examples that make expats feel at home. The person who took this picture with the intention to downgrade this cleaning worker and make fun of him, can now eat his heart out that his ill intention turned on him and the man received surprise gifts because of his stupid behavior.
As I said earlier, let’s give a thought to the other disadvantaged in society. We know that there are many others like this cleaning worker who are suffering in silence either from working for longer hours, low pay or nonpayment of their salaries. Let us spare a thought for these people too and give them enough succor to tide them over their period of difficulties or a life in poverty.
