(Notes from reading “Social Change in India,” pp. 512-516)
To her colleague, Florence penned the essence of her prayers and petitions on his behalf:
… I join with you in unceasing fervent prayer, to the Fatherly Providence of us all for your highest success– that is, that you may be enabled wisely, soberly, and continuously, through a long life, to help others to help themselves, to speak for those who have no voice, to be the voluntary representative of the poor and dumb and ignorant. And to make others noble, we must ourselves be noble.
ibid. p 513
This explains a lot to me and causes me to consider the similarities between Florence and I.
One of the great issues facing the ryots was the utter lack of record keeping either themselves or by the government, so that there was no evidence of their land holdings, rights, or payments already made to the zemandari. Without the records, they could be taken advantage of, being forced to pay more than they actually owed, having no contract to default to.
When records are kept, honesty can be enforced.
On the presentation of general facts (which Florence says are the foundation of “all hope of right conclusion and righteous action.” ibid p. 515), the stories that we choose to support such facts must be type facts (or typical facts) not exceptional or extreme case examples. If we take a single instance of a situation and attempt to project that onto the whole picture, without it actually being the case, then we do ourselves no advantage for we are exaggerating the truth, not reinforcing it.
“A people cannot really be helped except through itself.” ibid p. 515 If we want to fix social ills, we need to find the people within the communities themselves who are willing to educate their poor fellows, in order to realize growth and improvements.