Babies Drowning

The story is told of two men walking along a riverbank. One of them happened to glance at something floating in the river. He was horrified to see that that it was a baby! Without hesitation he jumped into the river to save the infant from drowning. When he jumped in he realised that there were many more in his immediate vicinity, all of them screaming and crying as they bobbed by. 

He began shouting to the other man. "Help! C'mon man! Get in here! Look at all of these babies! We gotta help 'em!" The other man however, kept walking upstream, despite the river full of babies, with more and more floating downstream. 
For every one that the first man saved, seven more passed him. There were too many. "C'mon man! Don't you have a heart? I can't save all of these babies by myself!" 
The second man replied, "I'm going upstream to find out who's throwing these babies into the river." 

This cautionary tale demonstrate the importance of going to the source of the problem to have a greater impact. Many people address society's social ailments as separate entities. Thus we find numerous organisations that target a specific social evil - the solution to racism, spouse abuse, child abuse, crime, pollution, alcohol abuse, drug addiction, and all the rest.

From an Islamic educational website.


Apart from the obvious, what? If not me, who? If not now, when?