Friday, December 25, 2009
Ideas for this entry were actually pre-determined back on Monday and I decided it would be more appropriate to type it on Christmas itself. For Singaporeans who are regular viewers of local shows like Life Transformers, they would probably know what the subsequent paragraphs mean. It helped that I'm not alone in thinking that Christmas is all about celebrating the occasion, being with family members or indulging in some sinful food. Was reading Chee's blog earlier on and he spoke of how an old woman and her mentally-challenged son spent Christmas eve picking drink cans. All this taking place while he's having steamboat with his friends.
Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong in having a good time with one's friends or celebrating the festive season. It's just that I was kinda affected by the second season of Life Transformers II after catching it on Monday. Every week, the hosts (Quan Yifeng and Christopher Lee) and a group of volunteers would go to a chosen family and help them to clean up the flat and solve whatever they had to the best of their abilities. Having missed the first episode, I was determined not to miss the second one. My heart goes out to the Ow family because they're already in their 60s but they still had to care for two mentally-challenged twins who are already in their 30s. Besides worrying about their two sons, they worry about losing their jobs, their rental flat and whether they can live long enough to take care of their needs.
What pissed me off was how the mother described how she was told to find work and not depend on welfare handouts' when she went to approach the relevant authorities. She added that if she was given a choice, she rather not depend on anyone else. Living in a first-world country like Singapore, one cannot wonder if the rich-poor gap is increasing with the poor and needy forgotten. There's no point having all the F1s and integrated resorts if Singaporeans are out there struggling to make ends meet.
This Christmas, take a step back and reflect on how blessed one is. I would say that's more important than worrying about how to spend the festive season or wondering which party to attend. Merry Christmas to one and all!
