Wednesday, September 29, 2004
The Shameless Singaporean

Sometimes,reading the papers and seeing how fellow Singaporeans behave,I am quite ashamed to even be a Singaporean.It's fair enough to talk about PRCs and their bad habits but are Singaporeans any much better or refined or cultured than them?Beats me.Yesterday's edition of TNP featured an article on how some well-off people took advantage of the charitable spirit of others and after reading the article,I could do nothing but shake my head.What a horrible bunch of losers we see around us.Read the article to know exactly what I am talking about.

Now now now,let me echo what the writer of the article said.Only I will be much more evil than the writer on wishing shame on the the Merc driver in question.No,I don't just wish shame on you.I hope that you lose all your possessions and will rely on the bar fridge that you got from the kind lady.That you will become exactly like how you desribed your brother:Sick,jobless and living in a one-room flat.Then you will realise what a fridge will mean to the needy.How they actually need it to lead a slightly better life than the one they are leading.How one small item improves their lifes tremendously because they need it,not because they desire it.Necessity and desire are two different things altogether.Realise that.And for those extreme cheapos who similarly asked for items(even luxury items like PCs),especially those who live in condominiums and have the audacity to say that the size of a home(even private property???Morons!) should not be used to judge the economic status of a person,I wish exactly the same fate as I wished the Merc driver.That you'd suffer such a horrible twist of fate,you'd actually need the items just to survive or improve your standard of living.Shame on you?No,hell on you.

Of course the article also revealed the good side of Singaporeans,kudos to the cancer-stricken old lady who wanted to donate an item even though she was living in poverty and difficulty herself.I guess the reason why she would do that is exactly because she herself have lived through hardship and therefore,she realises and understands how little gestures and aid will greatly help other people in need.I have to salute that.Someone,who despite her own difficulties,reaches to help others.Who realises that no matter how bad a state she is in,there may likely be someone else who's in an even worse state than her somewhere.

Reading through the story,it's funny how the rich,well-off or financially stable people are the shameless ones while it's the people in need,those who are suffering themselves,who will rise up to help others.Of course,it would be wrong to coin such a broad statement and apply across everyone in Singapore.I cannot deny that.There are good well-off people (like the Madam Phua in question)and bad poor folks.I do think though that people who have suffered in their own lives and lived through poverty,tend to have more empathy with the needy and understand why and how they need help.Those people,born to a comfortable life,will usually have greater difficulty in understanding the needs of such folks.There might even be some who are apathetic to the needs of the REAL needy...like the Merc driver.

In Singapore,I think it will be fair to say that the percentage of the middle-class and well-off far outnumbers those of the needy.Those living close to the poverty line.If that is the case,will it be reasonable to say that the number of people who are oblivious or apathetic to the needs of the needy also far outnumbers those who understand?Again,this is a very sweeping statement to make and it's not necessarily true but I'd have to make an assumption to further the argument so patronise me.Why are there so many of these well-off people who are absolute cheapos.Besides the incidents mentioned here,we also see them queueing up for freebies.Forming up overnight queues for discounts.It's everywhere.Of course,people are always up for a bargain or a freebie but sometimes,we are just "over enthusiastic" to the point of being shameless.

It's easy to want to blame something or someone for this kind of behaviour.I was tempted to mention the education system and how its failure to provide a well-rounded education,including social and moral behaviour,is leading to such ugly behaviour.Until I realise that whatever happens,we can't always blame the schools for it.I'd like to think we get most of our values from our homes.It's our parents who teach and inculcate in us values that they see fit and necessary.A lot of what we do may also be observed from the environment but hey,it's the home where we spend the majority of our time.It's sad wehn you think about it.Some parents don't teach their children enough not to take advantage of charities for the needy.It's a disgrace.

Sincerely,I hope the Merc driver guy not only reads the TNP report but also sees this blog and the "curse" I put on him to show my disgust.People like him need to learn.Maybe they're too set in their ways to learn the softer way,so perhaps the only way they're learn is to teach them a lesson the hard way.