A Cross to Bear for Mother Teresa

When altruism influences us in making decisions and taking action, we do it for the sake of the cause. Everything else is secondary. And it is called a voluntary work for a reason.

A Cross to Bear: When Mother Teresa Wants to Make an Instagram Reel from a Leprosy Centre in Kolkata

We will always get validation and recognition, and satisfaction for any altruistic work without us having to fish for compliments. That’s a given. however, there is a group of people who not only think otherwise but also make it a point to capture awkward photographs that are intended to be shared on Facebook & Co.

Sketch One

Imagine the dilemma Mother Teresa has to face—let’s assume she has been alive and has had the privilege to see the wonders of social media—when she is in a slum in a nondescript neighbourhood in Kolkata and she is feeding a small group of lepers, but she has left her iPhone 12 Pro at her convent. So now, should she worry about the amount of food and the corresponding number of people? Or would she be disturbed that she does not have the means to draw that moment with saintly light? By the way, many people refer to photography as drawing with light, based on the two Greek words (φωτός + γραφή) that make up photography. So what should Mother Teresa be more concerned with? You might say one of her fellow sisters will definitely have a phone, but that is beside the point.

Sketch Two

It’s been almost fifteen months that the coronavirus has ravaged many parts of the globe with India being one of the worst affected countries. This has been realised, specifically the second wave, shortly after the prime minister, an ardent fan of images particularly his own photographs, had announced on global forums that India has championed in the struggle against the pandemic. 

A report by The New York Times mentioned: 

India “saved humanity from a big disaster by containing corona effectively,” Mr. Modi told a virtual gathering at the World Economic Forum in late January, three tricolor Indian flags displayed in the background. Now, a second wave has made India the worst-hit country in the world. . . .Overconfidence and missteps contributed to the country’s devastating second wave, his critics say, tarnishing the prime minister’s aura of political invulnerability. 

(India’s Covid-19 Crisis Shakes Modi’s Image of Strength, 1 May 2021, The New York Times)

The Full Picture

As far as the prime minister is concerned, everyone knows an open secret about him. Many people believe that the supremo is only all tales that are full of sound and fury that signify nothing. Let us assume for the sake of humanity, in this time of humanitarian crisis, that the criticism about the head of a state always making empty promises are not true. However, there is one thing that is unquestionably true and that is what connects the dots between the above sketches one and two, Mother Teresa, Modi again, and a host of people who cannot help but always share a particular kind of photographs on social media.

Let us put it clearly: Why do some people always share photographs that show them doing voluntary work, especially when they are distributing freebies to people affected by some disaster?

We will miss the picture if we say it is out of human nature, it is out of that desire for validation and recognition, that need for acceptance, that idea of admiration and that feeling of satisfaction. In the last decade or so, though, it has surely grown to become an issue of global proportion with people, checking the number of likes on a photo that they have uploaded on Facebook in ways that are not only unusual but also detrimental to their well-being. In worse cases that are happening all over, many people are suffering from mental health problems because they have not got likes on their photo or the number is below their expectation. Psychologists also say that people who always seek for attention have higher chances of developing borderline personality disorder.

Facebook is touting its latest feature, which will allow Facebook and Instagram users to hide like counts on posts, as a move that aims to “depressurize” people’s experiences on its platforms. The change comes amid ongoing concern about the potentially harmful mental health effects of social media.

(Will hiding likes on Instagram and Facebook improve users’ mental health? We asked experts, 28 May 2021, The Washington Post)

In our context, it is quite obvious that an altruistic work such as helping fellow human beings during a crisis is bound to provide someone all the positive outcomes from validation to satisfaction without him/her having to fish for compliments. That’s a given.     

Think Before You Snap

When altruism influences us in making decisions and taking action, we do it for the sake of the cause. Everything else is secondary. And it is called a voluntary work for a reason. Since we are not perfect, we can assume that sometimes, guiltless motives do affect our reasoning. Perhaps, again, we want some sense of validation here and some recognition there. However, to put it bluntly, it is no less than an annihilation of humanity, when at the peak of a humanitarian crisis, our sheer self-interest is guiding our decision and action. On any given day, we can look at our social media feeds and see the photos of these Samaritans doling out relief materials, essential commodities and life-saving stuffs in polythene bags, in wrappers, in envelopes and what not. 

Of course, this issue of some attention-seeking individuals who are obsessed with photo-ops is not confined to the pandemic. We can rather say it is endemic to certain groups of people in our society like the politicians who are the best examples. Twenty years ago, I don’t know how they used to do it but now it seems our MLAs and social workers think it’s no more worth doing things if photographs of them doing things are not shared on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  

The fact that social media is an intimate medium and that the things we see on these platforms connect us at a personal level only makes the situation harder. And then this is the surreal moment when Mother Teresa, with her slick phone, is preaching that suffering is noble and we should suffer like Christ while she takes our photographs that she will post on Facebook; and we are bumping along the bottom, unsure when the pandemic is going to end, and she is done with photos now, and would start capturing videos for Instagram and Vine.    

If a Tree Falls in a Forest, Social Workers Definitely Hear the Sound

Social work is, according to Switzerland-based International Federation of Social Workers, “a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people.” However, in our town, a social worker means an individual who is a potential candidate for an assembly election. Prior to an election year, they usually come out and work socially, mingling with people, and that’s how they become and are called a social worker.

This group of social workers have given new meanings to selfies and photo ops. For them, a photograph means self-promotion. It is just one perfect medium to exhibit their vanity. It is one place to record their incentives or check the return on their cash-and-kind investment. A photograph is a proof that they will go to any length to project themselves as an individual who cares for us, a proof that they are the hero who will come flying and fish us out of any troubled waters. Just as critics have reduced Mother Teresa to a cult leader, our hardworking social workers have made photography a medium nobody should miss—because if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Living in a capitalist, consumerist society needs a lot of images to put our house in order, maintain hierarchy as well as retain a cycle of promotion and protection of many of these images. Photography carries out this responsibility efficiently, unlike in real life, with the time that we can take to post the literal pixel-perfect images on social media and if required, we also have image filters to further enhance the presentation. Beyond promotion, there is no substitute in the media-saturated world for social media that also performs the role of an image manager.  

Yet, this humanitarian crisis in the garb of a pandemic needs no comparison, in terms of the scale, frequency and the proportion. In these trying and most extraordinary circumstances at least, there could be some sort of regulations, much more conveniently so when the government is so interested in what the people see on social media and OTT platforms these days. (Read A wolf in watchdog’s clothing: On government’s move to regulate digital media in The Hindu, 1 March 2021) A humane approach is only possible, though, when the government performs its responsibilities. It might be too simplistic an explanation but individuals a.k.a. social workers are coming out to fill the vacuum left by government agencies in addressing and solving the issues of the public. 

Meanwhile, a much-needed relief: 

In a bid to rein in acts of charity that are done merely for the purpose of publicity, the Manipur government has now restricted the practice of using specially created relief kits with logos, use of loudspeakers, declaring the names of donors, house visits done by organisations and individuals(s) and putting banners of individual donor(s) in vehicles in the name of charity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Stop publicity in the name of charity amid COVID-19: Manipur govt, 26 May 2021, East Mojo)

Top left: That’s exactly what it looks like—four benevolent men in a real photo-op donating two divine pieces of bananas to a sick man in a hospital. Image credits (from top left in a clockwise direction): Twitter, The Reality of Aid Network, E-pao, The Sangai Express and East Mojo 

Even though the government has passed the order through the office of the Imphal West district deputy commissioner, observers have pointed out the duplicity of the government:

[. . .] The government has been commendably appealing for all to participate in this common fight, quite contradictorily, it has also forbidden local youth clubs as well as other individuals and non-governmental bodies to participate in the (Covid) relief efforts, quite obviously for fear of opposition parties and their support bases gaining future electoral grounds. 

(The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Manipur’s Battle Against COVID-19 Mayhem, 29 May 2021, Imphal Review of Arts and Politics)

The Final Shot

While we have social workers in the town, elsewhere in the world there are volunteers who are creating the same kind of eyesore. On Instagram, a few accounts like Barbie Savior and Radi-Aid mix humour and criticism to tackle this issue with burlesque posts and photos, particularly those of volunteer photographs that show them helping and saving impoverished people in Third-World countries.

If social work is about the liberation of people, as defined by the IFSW, then it must be education that will bring about real change. Until then the longer you live, only the more politicians and their sidekicks you will see. No matter what, know you will be validated, you will be recognised, you will be accepted, you will be admired and you will be satisfied without making poverty porn and without resorting to behaviours that are narcissistic and call for an introspection.

These so-called social workers and attention-seeking volunteers have made social media a delightful place where they present the best version of themselves. Well, it is true for a majority of us and is one of the reasons why social media is as popular as it is powerful but they have taken it up a notch or two higher than the ordinary mortals. Most of us also post and share and update to accentuate our self-worth, establish our identity and have a sense of belonging—yet in the process, many of us are apparently losing self-control. 

The dependence on social media to fulfill our psychological needs is harmful on its own, because that will be no different from substance abusers who cannot get on with a day without using their choice of substance. Further, in the process of promotion, protection and presentation of our image, we seem to have forgotten the importance of aesthetic appreciation. No wonder, we are seeing so many images that are not easy on the eyes. 

If Mother Teresa has forgotten her phone at her place of stay, it should not dent her enthusiasm, for the simple reason that her mission and objective are far more important than taking photographs. If not, it is her cross to bear!

If we measure the degree in terms of harm they do to humanity, self-styled social workers in Manipur, who are also obsessed with photo-ops and selfies, will be no different from coronavirus