There used to be a time when we could never refuse a beggar. There used to be a time when we could never walk away without buying some trinket from an old lady by the roadside, or a blind man, or a man without legs. Sometimes you'll hear a kid exclaim in fear if they were to stumble upon a beggar. You'll even hear teenagers saying that those people are good-for-nothings, society sampah who asked for it. You'll even see people steer clear away from beggars. I once watched a man without legs crawling on the dirty wet pungent pathways at the congested Chatuchak Market. People stood around him busily bargaining and browsing goods. People ignored him like he was just some stray dog. When tsunami happened, people took advantage of the situation, and there were child rape- paedophiles on the rage. Whatever happened to empathy- all down the toilet when we're in the rat race no? People diss dishwashers and those alien workers Contractors sit around drinking beer comparing which alien workers are dumber-Indonesians, Myanmars, Vietnamese, Nepalese or Bangladeshis. I once saw a woman shouting at a Nepalese boarding the same flight as she is because he was in the way. They forget that these people are human beings too. That they had nowhere to go, no land to belong to. What happened to our compassion to human sufferings?Tuesday, December 19, 2006
We Lack Compassion
There used to be a time when we could never refuse a beggar. There used to be a time when we could never walk away without buying some trinket from an old lady by the roadside, or a blind man, or a man without legs. Sometimes you'll hear a kid exclaim in fear if they were to stumble upon a beggar. You'll even hear teenagers saying that those people are good-for-nothings, society sampah who asked for it. You'll even see people steer clear away from beggars. I once watched a man without legs crawling on the dirty wet pungent pathways at the congested Chatuchak Market. People stood around him busily bargaining and browsing goods. People ignored him like he was just some stray dog. When tsunami happened, people took advantage of the situation, and there were child rape- paedophiles on the rage. Whatever happened to empathy- all down the toilet when we're in the rat race no? People diss dishwashers and those alien workers Contractors sit around drinking beer comparing which alien workers are dumber-Indonesians, Myanmars, Vietnamese, Nepalese or Bangladeshis. I once saw a woman shouting at a Nepalese boarding the same flight as she is because he was in the way. They forget that these people are human beings too. That they had nowhere to go, no land to belong to. What happened to our compassion to human sufferings?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I always make it a point to donate to beggars, I seem to have an in-built empathy mode whenever I pass them by. There was once a beggar walked into a restaurant, asking for leftovers, and the waiters shouted at him, asking him to leave, I went up to him and told him to get anything he wanted from the food display and I paid for it. It felt good giving humanity a hand.
In spite of the bad experience I had in the past, I still give whenever I can. Now that I have learned to be wiser (I think), I offer food than just merely giving money to them.
I will always buy newspaper or tissues from the old men or the blinds who walk from door to door. Though I don't really read them but I suppose they can be home earlier once the goods are sold out.
i just think we need to be selfless- irregardless of what kind of exp you've had, whether they are really beggars or not, whether they deserve it or not, just lend a hand to another person in need doesn't really take up a lot of your time or money. It's all about being selfless.
Post a Comment