r/nextfuckinglevel • u/RebootItAgain • Sep 22 '22
Sikh Golden Temple (in India) feeds 50k-100k people DAILY for FREE regardless of religion/caste/social status.
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u/__life_on_mars__ Sep 22 '22
I don't like to pre-judge anyone based on their religion of choice, but Sikhs seem like good people.
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u/thegrayinaccuracy Sep 22 '22
Hearing how low it costs to feed so many people disgusts me because it implies that world hunger could be eliminated with so little effort.
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u/Degovan1 Sep 22 '22
“World hunger” only exists because humans are dicks. There is more than enough food for everyone in the world to eat, and there is plenty of humanitarianism to help the most destitute places-but people suck. Political leaders use hunger to keep populations under their heels, or cut off supply chains to hurt their neighbors, or steal aid meant for the hungry to enrich themselves. Food is abundant and cheap. Good morality is sparse.
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u/Lucas21134 Sep 22 '22
The real reason behind World hunger is logistics. How do you transport this food. Where do you transport it to. How to make it accessible for people in that area. How to prevent the food from being stolen. How to do all of that and more, consistently every single time.
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u/AzureSkyXIII Sep 23 '22
Computers and airplanes, the only element of the problem that you can't solve is human suckiness.
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u/Keeper151 Sep 23 '22
You don't even need airplanes, freezer trucks/trains/containers make delivery very flexible.
Marketable, less so, but who ever let profits get in the way of getting food where it needed to be?/s
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u/automodtedtrr2939 Sep 23 '22
It’s easy when all roads are in decent condition and maintained. Can’t really drive a semi truck over a hundreds of miles of undeveloped infrastructure.
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u/ImObviouslyOblivious Sep 23 '22
People are starving everywhere in America, in every city. It has nothing to do with underdeveloped infrastructure
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u/HeathBell21 Sep 23 '22
World hunger absolutely has everything to do with underdeveloped infrastructure. Sure hunger in America is almost exclusively due to corporate greed, but this discussion is about world hunger.
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u/CORVlN Sep 23 '22
Delivery is flexible. Provided that you have drivers, roads, mechanics, dispatchers.
Then you have to worry about storage, you need distribution centers for that. Forklift drivers, clerks, managers, delivery vans.
Then you need grocery stores. Cashiers, more managers, janitors, etc.
Infrastructure plays a massive, massive role unfortunately.
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u/Mookies_Bett Sep 23 '22
Not to mention security. Flying pounds of food into a war torn area and setting it in a warehouse with no protection is a great way to get your entire supply raided and claimed in the name of whatever warlord is hungriest that week.
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u/1sagas1 Sep 23 '22 edited Sep 23 '22
Your house has an airport built into it? How far do you think people in impoverished countries that could face starvation live from the airport and what do you think the roads there look like? Do you think they refrigeration equipment and consistent power to use it or do you plant to be making trips almost daily?
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u/bestowalbump Sep 23 '22
We already have the logistics and use them to transport food all over the globe within a few weeks. It's just not profitable for fat politicians and CEOs
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u/ever-right Sep 23 '22
In a lot of places it gets stolen by local warlords to feed themselves and their soldiers, and because they control the food they have some measure of control over the local population.
Part of logistics is making sure the food gets to the right people. In the situation described above that could mean violent conflict.
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u/Scuirre1 Sep 22 '22
The problem of world hunger isn’t one of cost, it’s organization and corruption. You look at people who are starving in the world, it’s usually due to terrible governments and/or war in the area. We need more people like these Sikhs to solve the issue.
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u/loonygecko Sep 23 '22
Sikhs can operate in India because India is somewhat stable. Even SIkhs can't operate in war torn areas though.
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u/FFF_in_WY Sep 23 '22
Sikhs do what they can with what they have wherever they are. I think that is a fine aspiration for most any human. Teddy Roosevelt seems to agree.
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u/IhaveaDoberman Sep 22 '22
Yeah, that shouldn't be a revelation to you.
It's been pretty common knowledge for decades that if humans stopped being cunts basically any western country could afford to make sure everyone in the world received adequate food. And it would barely dent their annual budget.
The general number thrown around is something like $4 billion. But even assuming that's massively off and it costs $40 billion. As an example that is still less than 4% of the UK annual budget.
But that relies on people not being greedy power hungry corrupt bastards in every country.
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u/Loverboy_Talis Sep 23 '22
One of the reasons Sikh men (and sometimes women) wear the turban is to be easily recognized as a helper to anyone in need or distress.
Langar (public kitchen) is observed in every Sikh temple, and vegetarian meals are served to all who come.
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Sep 23 '22
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u/life_is_matrix Sep 23 '22
Sikhs are still being discriminated regularly for being confused with Muslims in western countries.
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u/MrPBoy Sep 23 '22
If you are ever in serious trouble and notice a Sikh, they will help you. Not speaking for the Sikh community, but they are spiritual warriors. Such a great group of people.
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u/underated_imbecile Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 23 '22
Hey Christians, wanna see what Jesus meant by "loving one another" this is it.
Edit: I say this is a great example of Jesus, and you tell me to fuck off, or call me ignorant. The rest of you proceed to talk about all your works, something else Jesus has said not to do.
My point is other religions seem to follow Jesus more than Christians and your comments prove that
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u/i_am_regina_phalange Sep 22 '22
And most Christian churches I know have a food kitchen or pantry and some offer free medical services. Being a good person doesn’t preclude any religion.
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u/greenthumbnewbie Sep 23 '22
I have never once seen a church offer free medical services and this is from someone who was raised by 2 southern hardcore Christian’s. All of our churches indeed had kitchens but it was to cook meals on certain nights of Bible study and charge those who wanted to get a plate. Nothing was free by any means.
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u/DABOSSROSS9 Sep 23 '22
Important to note that’s your experience, but most soup kitchens by me are all run by the church.
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u/cassby916 Sep 23 '22
I've never seen a church charge for meals. I have seen some "benefit dinners," but those are basically "pay what you can" and the funds go to help a specific family's need (like medical or funeral expenses). We just had a huge community dinner last night and didn't charge a dime.
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u/Aq8knyus Sep 23 '22
During the Pandemic, UK churches were providing 5 million meals per month.
A Christian charity the Trussell Trust is a major backer of UK food banks and regularly uses church properties to house banks.
The Sikhs are great, using them to kick Christians doesn’t seem very Sikh-like.
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u/WEIRDDUDE69420 Sep 23 '22
for real, the core ideology of sikhism is one that preaches equality and respect for everyone!
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u/imbaylee Sep 23 '22
all these people mad at you as i drive by plenty of MASSIVE churches empty 80% of the time while the homeless melt on the street…
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u/pipsedout Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 23 '22
Christians doing diakonia work around the world have a pretty solid grasp on that. Some Christians could of course improve on that front as well, sure.
since we're doing the whole edit thing, apparently:
The rest of you proceed to talk about all your works, something else Jesus has said not to do.
I am not religious, nor am I a member of any church. I am not talking about my own work, I am talking about the work or others.
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u/HyperIndian Sep 23 '22
I think to blanket all Christians like this is just wrong.
There are shitty Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus and Atheists etc just like there are good people from all of the above groups.
It's meaningless to say this. All you're doing is pushing a stereotype or narrative.
I've actually met good and bad characters of all of the above groups so I've personally got first hand experience which I'm sure others would agree on
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u/Elegant-Road Sep 22 '22
I got my first Slow Cooker for free at a garage sale setup by the nearby church in US. I am not a Christian.
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u/One_User134 Sep 23 '22
Congrats, you took a wholesome post and turned it into a contest of comparison.
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u/Haunting-Rush8136 Sep 22 '22
I once worked at a hindu temple in the United States. (Yes I know they are different). Every weekend they would cook a huge amount of food and feed the community. It was amazing! The food was incredible and they always invited me even though I wasn't an attendee. It was very similar to this just not anywhere as big.
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u/ProfessorPetulant Sep 23 '22
I reckon it would be a lot more work if meat was used. Preparing, cleaning, waste, everything would be much harder to manage.
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u/Shahi63 Sep 23 '22
That's not the reason, Sikhs are vegetarians because it's part of their faith.
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Sep 23 '22
That's not true; some Sikhs are vegetarian, but most Sikhs are not.
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u/being_PUNjaabi Sep 23 '22
The religion preaches being vegetarian, being non- vegetarian is just their choice.
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u/BareAssOnSandpaper Sep 23 '22
Sikhism is a religion of warriors and servitude. They aren't vegetarians. It's just, meat isn't considered a food for religious places in all of India.
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u/yarrpirates Sep 23 '22
I lived near a Hare Krishna temple when I had just moved out of home 25 years ago and had little money, and their free meals almost every day saved me from being hungry quite a few times.
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u/SolitaireOG Sep 22 '22
All of their temples do so. Also at parades and festivals - I’ll never forget the wonderful food I had up near Modesto, during one of their parades/celebrations! Such nice coworkers as well. I’m in nursing, and am always so pleased to work alongside Sikhs.
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u/just-mike Sep 22 '22
I think I saw that one on one of Huel Houser's shows. It looked incredible.
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u/FiveRiversFlow Sep 23 '22
The festival you are talking about is a ‘Nagar Kirtan’ (literal translation: Nagar = City, Kirtan = singing of the hymns)
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u/jjamesr539 Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 22 '22
I’ve never met a mean Sikh. It’s almost like regardless of what they believe theologically, a core philosophy of helping the less fortunate and not being a dick without regard for anyone else’s beliefs is just nice. That’s not even low quality food it sounds amazingly delicious. I’d pay for it in a restaurant.
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Sep 23 '22
There's a majority Sikh state in India (Punjab).
It has politicians.
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u/MisterDisinformation Sep 23 '22
Who's talking about politicians?
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u/neanderthalensis Sep 23 '22 edited Sep 23 '22
OP said he’s never met a mean Sardar (Sikh). FunBun was pointing out that Sikh politicians exist, implying politicians are notoriously shitty people. As a Punjabi I can confirm no community is without its bad apples.
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u/Needorgreedy Sep 23 '22
I come from a sikh family. And as with everything there will be a couple rotten apples in the bunch. A mean/angry sikh is like you're in the presence of a scorned Lion,but honestly that's what makes us tough. And a vast/large majority of us are good people and not quick to anger, which I'm proud of.
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u/BareAssOnSandpaper Sep 23 '22
Yes it's core part of their religion. Like their teachings are all about being good to others, not having ego and offering service to people. No matter if you are a poor guy or a millionaire. If you follow Sikhism and you visit the temple, you sit side by side and offer the same service.
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u/trinity016 Sep 22 '22
At the same time, American politicians are voting against free school lunch for children. SMH
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u/ObeyOneShinobi Sep 23 '22
Same thing happened in the UK, it was a famous Football player who campaigned for free school meals.
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u/front_yard_duck_dad Sep 23 '22
Marcus Rashford is a fantastic human cheers from the US
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u/Sad_Meat_ Sep 23 '22
There is a Sikh free restaurant in Seattle where homeless folks and rich folks dine together for free. You can donate of course, but it is never needed. It kept me alive when I was homeless and gave me inspiration to be a better person. What a beautiful religion of love and compassion
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u/tylertrey Sep 22 '22
Couple things:
- All Sikh Gurdwaras commonly serve a community meal "Langar". The one near my parents in California serves Pizza once a week.
- These vegetarian meals that can be shared by anyone are not just charity. It's a major difference from Hinduism which has strict rules about who can eat with who and who can prepare the food they eat.
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u/eyearu Sep 23 '22 edited Sep 23 '22
Tirupati Hindu temple in South India, the richest and one of the biggest in India, is flooded by all kinds of devotees everyday and they are all served free food without discrimination. You can talk about something without bringing down another.
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u/ZofianSaint273 Sep 23 '22
What Hindu mandirs have you gone to? They also give free food to anyone that comes to their mandir
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u/slutshaa Sep 23 '22
This is false. Hindu temples serve food without discrimination.
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u/absolutemadlad_69 Sep 23 '22 edited Sep 23 '22
It's a major difference from Hinduism which has strict rules about who can eat with who and who can prepare the food they eat.
What are you on about mate? Just see how many devotees iskcon feeds daily irrespective of their caste.
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u/rash-head Sep 23 '22
When we were in university, we would go to langar at gurdwara and lunch at Hindu temple when we wanted good Indian food. Free food and no one asked our religion or to pray. Hindu temples don’t advertise free food but always serve if they are big enough. No need to fight between us.
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u/Deep90 Sep 23 '22
It's a major difference from Hinduism which has strict rules about who can eat with who and who can prepare the food they eat.
This isn't true.
Hindus are extremely diverse in beliefs so you can keep posting your story about 1 temple, but that doesn't mean plenty of sects don't preach against the caste system.
The fact you think 1 temple represents hundreds, if not thousands of sects along with over a billion hindus betrays your ignorance.
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Sep 23 '22
I've never been to a Hindu temple where they've not served everyone or one where they check the backgrounds of ppl who volunteer to cook/serve
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u/21022018 Sep 23 '22
Point 2 is wrong, there are no such rules, you are talking about the illegal caste system
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u/pete_ape Sep 22 '22
Is this the same Golden Temple that was the target of Operation Blue Star? That was just some fucked up shit what happened there, and the aftermath.
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u/cromulantusername Sep 22 '22
A dark time for the Sikh community
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u/pete_ape Sep 23 '22
I'm new to Indian history and politics, and I had no idea that there was a Sikh separatist movement. Seems rather cold but calculated move to take sanctuary in the Golden Temple, any move against it to flush out the militants is obviously going to enrage the Sikh community. From certain perspectives, our siege at Waco seems sort of analogous to this.
Our class text was strangely pointed about making sure that the reader knew it was Indira Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards who assassinated her, and there was a huge anti-Sikh backlash after her murder. In a country with such diverse cultures and religion, there is always going to be some friction, but I was surprised to hear anything negative about the Sikhs. Maybe it was a result of the nation being only 30 years old at that point.
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u/nurav16 Sep 23 '22
Yeah we lived through a really horrible time then. Our then PM was a bitch.
Fuck Indira Gandhi and the rest of the Gandhi family.
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u/Common_Aspect Sep 23 '22
Holy shit how can someone be so well versed in putting out rational thoughts? Bravo!
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u/PanthVasse Sep 23 '22
Nothing cold or calculated, the complex has served as a political and military HQ for Sikhs throughout history. The "Golden temple" represents spirituality, the building across it, the Akal Takht, represents Sikh political power. Sikh armies would convene there and maintain presence, and fortify the area.
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u/wenislord470 Sep 23 '22
Yeah the indian army attacked this same Gurdwara/temple
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u/pete_ape Sep 23 '22
We just covered India's government and political history in my Comparative Politics class. The text was rather specific that Indira Gandhi's assassins were her Sikh bodyguards, which seemed really uncharacteristic behavior for Sikhs. So I dove down that rabbit hole for a bit. Extremely fucked up situation, but without digging deeper into the extensive politics of the parties involved, seemed like a no-win situation for the government with militants holing up in the Temple.
I knew there were/are religious and ethnic militants who want independence from India, but had no idea that this included the Sikhs. One of the videos I just saw, the historian called it a "pogrom" of the resulting anti-Sikh backlash after Gandhi's assassination. That word carries some significant historical and emotional baggage.
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u/bunny522 Sep 23 '22
Yes a genocide happened against Sikhs. My parents lived through it and told me the horrors of it.
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u/jakefrmstatefrmm Sep 22 '22
For anyone who wants to see what poverty is like, here’s a story about Pag-Pag recycled food waste in the Philippines. In a way, these people are luckier since at least they can find something to eat, even if it’s wasted food. Many parts of the world can’t even find that
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u/Bromm18 Sep 22 '22
Reminds me for some reason of how the lower grade vendors and people use gutter oil as they can't afford clean fresh oil to cook their food.
And yes gutter oil is oil from the gutter, it's a like a separate sewage system for just oil. People open public access covers and skim off the surface layer of old, used and stagnant oil. Then they boil it and remove the larger impurities then bottle it and sell it. Sadly it's all some can afford to cook food in.
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u/Brandperic Sep 23 '22
If you’re referring to something else then just ignore me but if you’re talking about sewer oil in China, that’s driven by profit, not need. It’s a major social and public health problem in China and is actively fought against. Unfortunately, like you said, you can just go to some random waste water manhole cover and skim some off the top, so it’s hard to prevent.
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u/james_randolph Sep 22 '22
Had the pleasure of visiting Amritsar and seeing the Golden Temple and partaking in the Langar (where they’re eating). Extremely humbling experience. As you’re approaching the temple you have to take your shoes off, you just leave them outside and it’s fine. The Golden Temple itself is unreal, especially at night. Can’t take pictures inside but all the walls from top to bottom are gold and crafted with beautiful pictures/etc. The Langar is ran by volunteers, they’re serving and cleaning after thousands of people. For many, these are the only meals they get for the day. The food was very good and I was just in awe the entire time because I’ve never seen anything like this in the states and they do this everyday. It’s unreal.
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u/Comfortable-Two7798 Sep 23 '22
one crazy thing about the golden temple is that right next to it(within it kind of) is a place called jallianwala bagh. it is the location where in 1919, 400 indians met to peacefully protest and discuss the occupation of the british. british soldiers then went to that place and fired over 2000 shots, almost all 400 people died. this included dozens of children, babies, and women. not a single indian person had a weapon. if you go to the place now, you can still see the bullet holes in the walls and the finger nails scratched into the one well(people jumped in to avoid bullets but were shot inside).
it’s crazy to me that a place of such peace shares its grounds with one of the worst travesties in history.
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u/the-finnish-guy Sep 23 '22 edited Sep 23 '22
I have literally stirred that pot as a 10-year-old when we went on a trip there with my family.
It was like a guided tour but super fun imo.
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u/Jar_of_Cats Sep 22 '22
Hearing how little it cost to feed so many makes me disgusted to know that world hunger could be eliminated with so litte
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u/Lucky-Elk-1234 Sep 23 '22
Most people in the world would probably support doing this kind of thing in every city. Problem is rich people want to hoard as much money for themselves as they can, even if it means other people starve. And they, politicians and media control the narrative that we should all aspire to be like that, because more money = more happiness for you.
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u/overpaid_bum Sep 22 '22
I live in an area of Canada with lots of Sikh people. This is just my tiny anecdotal evidence, but I am yet to have a single negative interaction with any of them. They seem to be very respectful people with really good values.
Their religion, as are most religions, are based on very good values. The difference is that they put it into practice in positive ways. It’s admirable and I wish more organized religions did that.
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Sep 23 '22
Sikhs, man. These people. I'm convinced that Sikhs are the peak of humanity as of now. Their hospitality, good spirit and just the purity of their ways... And also the ferocity and perseverance in the face of the enemy. You don't see a single historical record where Sikhs were the bad guys. That says something.
Sikhs are the definition of wholesomeness. I'm calling it. That's what they are. The best people of all people.
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u/Maleficent-dipderp Sep 22 '22
Poverty is not a desired buy those who have not. help those who cannot help themselves.
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u/chefkitagawa Sep 22 '22
Every Sikh temple (Gudwara) in Canada does this. Saved me more than once from going hungry
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u/FREE-AOL-CDS Sep 22 '22
How much does it cost them to feed so many?
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u/RebootItAgain Sep 22 '22
They are buying literal multi-tons of food a day which comes from donations. Food is cooked mostly by volunteers every day. Absolutely one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life.
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u/nothing_but_thyme Sep 23 '22
What surprised me watching this video was how much time consuming work was being done by hand. You could buy one Hobart Buffalo Chopper for about $10k and it would process all the shallots and garlic those folks chopped in almost no time being overseen by only one person.
I’m not suggesting it’s a change they should make but it’s interesting to consider what steps they’ve modernized vs. those they haven’t. Obviously it would require far fewer volunteers as you leverage more and more technology - and as that happens the bond and connection with the community changes and you risk compromising everything that makes this temple and this service so special.
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u/Inspire_resistal Sep 22 '22
Literaly every Sikh temple (commonly called a gurdwara) does this they run on donations anyone can come and eat as long as you are being respectful take off your shoes when entering and cover your head a head covering is usually provided near the entrance
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u/wheresbill Sep 22 '22
In the video they said it cost $4 million/ year to keep the kitchen open. If they get 100k visitors/day that’s 36.5 million people per year at most. It seems they get a lot of donations
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u/nothing_but_thyme Sep 22 '22
At a cost of $4 million per year and 100k people per day, that’s only $0.1095 per meal. Not too bad. Mostly free labor and lots a donated ingredients goes a long way I suppose.
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u/HieroglyphicEmojis Sep 22 '22
Today is a holiday in Sikhism - the death of Guru Nanak on Sept 22.
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u/VexiKitty Sep 22 '22
See, this is why Sikh is one of the only faiths I like, because they don't just preach about helping others, but actually do. Christianity needs to take some lessons from them and from Buddhism.
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Sep 22 '22
Anyone who has ever been hungry for days with nothing to eat knows how divine this place will feel.
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u/andabread Sep 22 '22
Sikh people are amazing. They're also some of the first to drive humanitarian efforts during a crisis.
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u/Independent-End5844 Sep 22 '22
Went I visited India. The Golden Temple felt like one of the most holy places I have ever been. I am nondenomational Pagan now. At the time I was exploring religions. The energy at that temple was how I know divine power does exist.
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u/Stompy612 Sep 22 '22
There is a popular live streamer on twitch named Jaystreazy who did 30 days in India streaming almost 15 hours a day most days, and he got a guided tour of this temple and operations. It is on YouTube somewhere I’m sure, but it was mind blowing how clean it was for one and two how BIG of an a Operation it is. And free!!!
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u/SomePeopleCall Sep 23 '22
I'm solidly atheist, but now I am going to see if I can volunteer at the nearest Sikh temple. I have heard before that if you get lost in a foreign city that you should try to find their temple if you are in need, which seemed odd advice. The more I learn the more sense it makes, though.
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u/MichiganMan7676 Sep 23 '22
Every Sunday I cook and help out at my local guardawa. Proud to be Sikh!
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u/gagagaholup Sep 22 '22
Our local temple offers free meals on weekends to all regardless of religion, wish more religious institutions did simple stuff like this, it truly makes a difference
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u/jehan_gonzales Sep 23 '22
Gotta love Sikhs. Walk around with a dagger, feed people instead.
Someone on another post called them "Real life Jedis".
I'm inclined to agree.
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u/tru-self Sep 23 '22
All Sikh temples in the world feed people for free, it’s called Langar. There were Gurudwaras that reached out to feed locals during Covid, here in the US too. Like all religions, Sikhs have crazy people too but almost all are very welcoming. Anybody can go to a Gurudwara with respect during lunch hour and check it out. Just be careful if the propaganda we’ve seen in a couple.
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u/silverstang07 Sep 23 '22
I can only imagine the excuses the US or other western governments would give to not allow this.
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u/CoyoteJoe412 Sep 22 '22
If all religions operated more like this, the world would a much better place