Why Beggars Should be Choosers
We’ve probably all heard the line “Beggars can’t be choosers”.
Aren’t all beggars choosers? If we eliminate the stereotype, the person standing at the bottom of the off-ramp or at an intersection or in front of a busy retail outlet (mostly pre-pandemic) gladly accepting cash, we are essentially ALL beggars.
1[intransitive, transitive] to ask someone for something, especially in an anxious way because you want or need it very much beg (for something) He wants to see them beg for mercy. beg somebody (for something) They begged him for help.
We beg for jobs, business to come our way, lights to turn green, a faster server at the restaurant, etc., but in a more “sophisticated” way. It’s just that we’re not begging for the essentials, a way to survive. Waiting for a light to turn green is NOT a matter of survival unless you have an absolute certainty you are about to soil yourself because you thought you were taking the faster way to your destination.
So here is my thought. If we are beggars, we have chosen to adopt this behavior. It isn’t really a choice, actually, it is learned behavior. Like Pavlovian subjects, we tend to react to the assaults directed at us by the omnipresent media and advertising behemoths.
We are their slaves.
Consequently we pony up to their outstretched hands to accept and assimilate their offerings. Is it a choice?
If we fail to grab the endless bounty supplied by our benefactors, we are settling for whatever is left over.
And there is plenty that is left over.
Most of it is free, or at least doesn’t cost you the submission of accepting the spewed offscourings of the conglomerates. When you choose your own path, whether eating healthy meals or choosing a less hectic lifestyle, whatever the target you have specified, you have freed yourself from the bounds of the masses.
Our choice seems to lie between accepting the offerings of the outside world, or choosing a path delineated by our own thoughts, free from the constraints of what is being proffered in the mainstream and choosing from your own thoughts and ideas.
