Taken from Unicef's Website
I was pondering about something that was said to me which triggered my thoughts: of flambouyant fashion accessories to expensive IT gadgets, all these could have been exchanged for many things that children around the world could have benefitted from - at survival level.
I'm not against the living of the "good-life", but if its to take a step back from it, perhaps many others could live.
Then again, blindness takes the form of being in a different environment - the way things are built and done, the coagulation of material things or survival necessasities on the extreme ends makes a different person altogether.
There's a report in the Straits Times today - 2 girls with the highest score achieved in their PSLE opted for 2 very different education advancements; one was "gunning" for a top school, another, a neighborhood one. The former was the daughter of a pair of pretty successful parents, the latter that of 2 very humble blue-collars.
The writer was hoping that more encouragement, subsidies and help be given to those who are humbly opting for lower education costs even though they excel in this aspect.
(I don't intend to misquote, but that has been my interpretation)
But no matter how many illustrations are given, the different strata of our socio-economical structure cannot be made amalgam. Where there is a man, another is stronger or weaker. Where there is an employer, there will be an employee and vice versa.
So who do you love? Yourself, or the world? Then again, who would you love - you or the world. Parallel: why do you care?
I also find it quite queer when people who participate in social and welfare work at an international level to subject themselves heavily into it, when we have our own lesser fortunate and abandoned. Perhaps our countrymen aren't as bad, and those in other countries are worse off. My take: if you can't take your next door lonely elderly as human, then how humane are you.
Ever since my grandmother passed on, I've never once done social or welfare work after that. I admit I beared a grudge against her - she had my mother at her mercy when she first stepped into the family, consistently being put down with her obligations and contributions to the family in general. I hated her, and pratically gave her no respect and had zero tolerance for her words and actions.
Till she became sick, I crawled with my emotions. I was somewhat indifferent till her death many years ago. And in her final days, she showered my mother with all the love she knew was too late. Yet, my mother remained opened to her, at her beck and call, even when her movement became restricted.
She once fell from her portable toilet in the room in the wee hours of the morning - all the dirt spilled across the room and my mother and sisters cleaned her up without a single complaint, murmur, or curse. They were in fact concerned.
Then it happened - she passed away. I was on the way home from school and just walked right into the funeral. Nobody said a thing for they were worried I couldn't concentrate on my books.
I cried for that very first time for my grandma.
Ever since then, I've always thought that if I failed to commit myself to my loved ones, in what mental and ethical capacity am I to help any others. Mind you, not that I don't care, but I care more. It's been a long and painful lesson.
And this adds on to the fact that whenever someone sells a charity ticket without knowing who or what the charity is or does, I never bother to make that donation. Show some heart please, or don't do it at all.
Perhaps you may think this is heartless. But think again, how much more heart do you have?
The Islander :wink:
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