5 Life Lessons from a Beggar

Every morning I had to take a bus to school and I would always have the company of a Beggar who could not speak or even walk but he was always making gestures, perhaps ‘clowning’ in a bid to get a laugh out of me, I would not understand as to what he was trying to do for years at end, all I would give to him in return was a faint smile or a look of nonchalance before I would board onto the bus and leave for the day.

This continued throughout the years of schooling. Every day at 7:40 am, he would be there and not once did he ever try to come close to me, nor did it ever occur to me that I give him something. Even before I had realised, this man had become a subconscious part of my life, whenever I would be stepping out of my house to get to the bus stand, I would eagerly anticipate the sight of him just being there.

In one of our classes, we were covering American Psychologist Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs wherein he theorises that there are five human needs that influence our behaviour:

1. Physiological Needs- The most basic needs for sustenance like food and water, sufficient rest, clothing and shelter, overall health and reproduction. To water it down even further in filmmaker Manoj Kumar’s words, “Roti Kapda Aur Makaan”.

2. Safety Needs- Shielding from violence and theft, emotional well-being, health security and financial security.

3. Love and Belonging Needs- Friendships and Family bonding. Emotional and physical intimacy which are important to achieve the feeling of elevated kinship besides being a part of social groups, et al.

4. Esteem Needs- The ego driven needs which is based on respect and acknowledgements from others, self-confidence and independence.

5. Self-actualisation Needs- The feeling of fulfilment of one’s complete potential as an individual after one achieves their goals and aspirations.

All this while, I had been thinking about the two completely irreconcilable spectrums of our society. One where my privileged classmates and I sat in an Air Conditioned classroom while the beggar whom I had just met that morning was probably dragging himself through the dusty streets, begging for spare change all day perhaps, not too far away from our school where we were sitting at.

However unfairly the conditions are set, the Beggar is always working hard to sustain himself and perhaps his kin by following the theory of Maslow just like the ones reading this article from the screens of their device.

There is a lot that can be learnt from a beggar.

1. The beggar, without fail, is always there at the bus stand every morning despite his disabilities, begging for money or perhaps, any kind of help that he could get from passer-by’s trying to fulfil his physiological needs so he can afford to make arrangements for his “Roti Kapda Aur Makaan” and hence, to feel safe and secure to an extent.

2. When the beggar was always trying to make me laugh every morning at the bus stand, he was perhaps trying to make a connection with a kid who would not look down upon him and hoped that the kid would respect him or be affectionate to him the way others would not. In this simple point of contact every morning, he tried to in a way achieve his love, belonging and esteem needs all at once. Learning from a beggar that we can expect to find respect and love in the most unrelated people who have no expectations from us.

3. I learnt from a beggar that no matter how different the circumstances of privilege are, we are always trying to raise our own standards of living, life is unfair but we must keep our head down and continue our survival.

4. He was always there. On time. He did not live there, he had to always drag himself to the spot to always find me there standing with my parent, and he started work early in the morning, every day. Hence learning from a beggar, punctuality.

5. If there is anything that we are learning from a beggar, it is humility. To be able to stay humble and carry on for the sake of survival even if it comes down to begging. We will all have ups and downs but the key is to carry on.

It is difficult to say if a beggar finds any sense of self-actualisation and to what extent but there is something that can definitely be learnt from a beggar- Nothing will ever stop us from trying to fulfil our needs to sustain ourselves as “life always finds a way”.