Story: Travellers And Purse Two men were traveling in company along the road when one of them picked up a well-filled purse. “How lucky I am!“ he said. “I have found a purse. Judging by its weight it must be full of gold.“ “Do not say 'I have found a purse,'“ said his companion. “Say rather 'we have found a purse' and 'how lucky we are.' Travelers ought to share alike the fortunes or misfortunes of the road.“ “No, no,“ replied the other angrily. “I found it and I am going to keep it.“ Just then they heard a shout of “Stop, thief!“ and looking around, saw a mob of people armed with clubs coming down the road. The man who had found the purse fell into a panic. “We are lost if they find the purse on us,“ he cried. “No, no,“ replied the other, “You would not say 'we' before, so now stick to your 'I'. Say 'I am lost.'“ We can not expect any one to share our misfortunes unless we are willing to share our good fortune also.
It’s a man looking over his family during the British Raj in India. There were many cases of cannibalism and he feared someone would try to kill and eat his children or wife. I acknowledge this is a difficult picture to look at— but I included it for a reason. Many people in the US/West aren’t even aware of the terrible famines that swept through India and which are comparable to the holocaust in deaths (an estimated ~30 million people have died in famines in India). This was taken from the Great Famine of 1876–1878, which was far worse than the infamous Bengal Famine. It was caused by a crop failure/drought and was exacerbated by the crown’s export of wheat abroad. In total, 5.6 - 9 million people died (it’s hard to get exact figures). And within huge statistics like these, are forgotten stories. These are individuals and families, who slowly faced the despair of knowing they had no food and would have no food in the near future. They faced the horror of knowing there was
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