Article by Mr Brown.com (pt 2)
There's a lot of emotions going thru' me when I read the b/m article. I can hardly imagine the hardship and frustrations that a parent has to go thru' with the news that his/her child has autism and may be needing special care for a long time in his growth. Then the adjustment they have to make in their lifestyle in order to accomodate the needs of their child. As of the mother above, it's really a tough time trying to live a normal life while having to look after her child. Despite the short sms messages, you can read and feel for yourself her heartache, her near desperations and her despondence.
The society in Singapore is one who is short of charity and considerations for people with special needs. Why, just take a look at a very simple situation on the road. The traffic conditions in singapore has this very interesting phenomenon: when there's a traffic jam, there can only be 2 reasons - 1) it's a really serious accident up ahead which involved a few cars and possibly injuries across the lanes or 2) there's a really serious accident up ahead which involved a few cars and possibly injuries across the lanes and ALL THE REST OF THE PEOPLE ARE SLOWING DOWN TO TAKE A GOOD LONG LOOK before driving off!!! I have not seen anyone stopping his/her car by the road to help or at least to help the already-bad traffic condition by being mindful that he/she is slowing down the whole CTE/AYE/ECP/PIE flow. What "considerate" drivers we are. At the MRT stations, you dun see people assisting the blind or the wheelchaired up the train... instead you see people standing around and observing the whole act of tapping the concrete and then the door and finally managing to board the train and NO ONE else offering a seat for the poor guy.
Did our society hone us to be self-centered and only under gah-men's prodding then we become considerate and charitable? We even had to be "told" under the method of having public signage and announcements to let the needy have our seats on the trains... what gracious society we have become.
Not that I'm using "a bamboo to capsize all the boats" (chinese proverbs) but generally, the situation is like this. How then can we do our part to help you may ask? Some will definitely ask me:" so do you give to EVERY donation that comes along or do you give to EVERY student or volunteer who approaches you for a donation to whichever needy society?" Sure there's bound to be repercussions like this when we talk about public-spiritness and considerations. My answer is:" No I don't give to every single one of them as much as I like to but do you?"
Underlying motto: Help when you can, help what you can, help where you can.
Later!
I say - give to a cause you support or strongly believe in. That makes your giving more meaningful(to yourself). Giving is not restricted to monetary terms but also in terms of time and skills. You can consider volunteering your photog/craetive skills to a charity.
Posted by Little Miss Snooze | 4:58 PM