Volunteerism

Remember the $2 old lady I was talking about in my previous post? She came back again today. I don't know how to say this but this was what happened (according to my mum):

The old lady came a few days ago and happened to be queuing up for rice during peak hour. So, she sat down and started chatting with another lady beside her, saying that she lost all her money and jewelery to her grandson and that her daughter abandoned her. It happened that the lady she was talking to was a rich tai tai. After hearing her story, the lady gave her $50. I guess it was out of compassion that she actually gave her the money. She even got her maid to help her to her flat. But the story doesn't end here.

The old lady came back the next day and then the following days looking for this rich tai tai to the extent that she went to ask my parents when she usually come and why she wasn't there everytime. I can't stop by assuming that she was looking for the tai tai for money. The worse part is, someone caught her gambling at the void deck. Whether it was with tai tai's money or not, I'm not sure but hopefully it's not. Suddenly, I had a total change of impression of her and I can't help but despise her of her act.

I'm not angry that she comes back for money but my point is, if you say you are poor and that you are getting monthly allowance from the govt and some kind-hearted people like the tai tai, you should be spending your money wisely but instead, people caught her gambling at the void deck. I just feel that this is really ridiculous and I can't help but think of Mrs Lau's story about the person collecting food supplies from donors with a hamburger in the hand. If you are really poor, I doubt you'll have the spare cash to spend on these luxury products, not to say even gamble away the money.

Not that I'm critising her but I just feel it really isn't right to do that. This is also one of the factor that is stopping me from doing volunteering work (if any) because people take you for granted, at least in Singapore itself.

I don't know... Maybe I'm just too emotional over these kinda things. Haix...

Insomnia

My insomnia is getting worse as the days go by. Sleeping pill isn't helping anymore cos I've become too dependent on it, up to a point where it stopped having its effect. I can stay awake the entire night with songs ringing in my brain, disturbing me like nobody's business. I suspect I inherited the "cannot sleep" gene from my mama. Haix.I guess that's just life.

$2

If you happen to be a foodstall holder and an old lady in her 80s, who has problem walking even with a walking stick, comes up to you and ask if you could do her a favour by selling 2 packets of rice with just $2 so that she and her handicapped friend could have something to eat, would you sell it to her?

Well, that was really what happened yesterday at my dad's stall. I can't help but feel really sorry for her. I couldn't help but hold my tears back. In the end, my dad sold it to her. I'm not trying to say that we had a really big heart of compassion but it's really painful to see that there are still so many people out there who needs our help. At that moment, I just felt I was back in sec sch helping out at CIP projects and the joy I got out of it.

However, what made me really regretful was that I should have given her a bigger bowl of rice but instead, I gave only 3/4 of what I usually give to other customers to her just because she only had $2. My dad also cut down on the amount of meat that went with the rice.

I don't know but I just felt that we shouldn't have done that... right?