MONEY IS YOURS BUT THE RESOURCES ARE NOT

The affluent in the so called poor countries are not at all guilty about wasting their resources; moreover, they consider it their right to do so because they pay for it.  As a priest, I go to receptions hosted by the Church and the individuals, where  I am disturbed to see that so much food is wasted – the guests pile-up all the food stuff into their plates and throw it off after consumption of not even a quarter of what is taken.   A Tweet by Chetan Bhagat has prompted me to write this post.  I quote it verbatim:

Germany is a highly industrialized country.  In such a country, many will think its people lead a luxurious life.

When we arrived at Hamburg, my colleagues walked into the restaurant, we noticed that a lot of tables were empty.  There was a table where a young couple was having their meal.  There were only two dishes and two cans of beer on their table.  I wondered if such simple meal could be romantic, and whether the girl will leave this stingy guy.

There were a few ladies on another table.  When a dish is served, the waiter would distribute the food for them, and they would finish every bit of the food on their plates.

As we were hungry, our local colleague ordered more food for us.  When we left, there was still about one third of un-consumed food on the table. 

When we were leaving the restaurant, the old ladies spoke to us in English, we understood that they were unhappy about us wasting so much of food.

“We paid for our food, it is none of your business how much food we left behind,” my colleague told the old ladies.  The old ladies were furious.  One of them immediately took her hand phone out and made a call to someone.  After a while, a man in uniform from Social Security organization arrived.  Upon knowing what the dispute was, he issued us a 50 Euro fine.  We all kept quiet.

The officer told us in a stern voice, “ORDER WHAT YOU CAN CONSUME. MONEY IS YOURS BUT THE RESOURCES BELONG TO THE SOCIETY.  THERE ARE MANY OTHERS IN THE WORLD WHO ARE FACING SHORTAGE OF RESOURCES.  YOU HAVE NO REASON TO WASTE RESOURCES.

The mindset of the people of this rich country must put all of us to shame.  We are to be aware that we belong to a country which is not very rich in resources and many live in abject poverty.  To show off, we order large quantity and also waste food when we give others a treat. Recently while I was in a dinner, a person sitting near me felt ‘ashamed’ that my plate was empty after which he commented, “Can’t you leave something in the plate so that others will not think of you as deprived.”  There is a saying in Malayalam “undaal paathrathil irikkanam” which means there should be some left over so that your host will come to know you have been given more than enough.  My interpretation to the above is that your plate should be so clean that you can sit on the plate. Let us be affirmed: MONEY IS YOURS BUT THE RESOURCES BELONG TO THE SOCIETY.