these poor girls were being scolded by an auntie for even daring to ask for donations from her, because, according to her "You don't ask people for money!! People have no money where got money to give for donation! You think everyone got money?"
being forced to stand out there in the sun, have to sacriface weekend to do stupid flag days, have to look at idiots who make fun of us, or people who pretend we don't exist, then now this kind of abuse.
what the hell is flag day coming to?
back in my secondary school days, then later on while in jurong institute, from what i understood from my teachers, doing flag days went from voluntary work to being compulsory in school. one of those things that we were supposed to do just to earn "community work points" just so we can leave school with a "good record". nothing wrong with that, just that it's not fair, not everyone wants to do community work, and not everyone will learn the "giving spirit" just by fulfilling those points.
i mean, the only reason why some of the people had these points were coz they went for flag days. they chose this option rather than like, go old folks home la, go do overseas charity work and etc, bcause they just weren't interested. Flag days were just the easiest way out, stand under the sun abit, try and get people to put in some coins, give stickers away, and voila, points.
of course, there were always the odd few who put in enough to make some noise, and then sit at mac donald's or go watch early movie or something, then bring back the cans/bags at the right time.
there were those, like these three girls, who ernestly works at it, even though it's tiring, hot, people stare at you, run away from you, very sad kind of moments for us. but we do it you know, coz we actually bothered enough. and when you have friends with u (usually work in pairs la..) you feel a bit more encouraged, coz it's not like the easiest thing to do, asking strangers for money for people u don't even know and aren't likely to meet.
those girls who got yelled at, i feel so sorry for them. i mean, wtf auntie, u think we wana ask strangers for money meh? donating online to the various communities jiu hao le, who the hell wana walk around and shove bags into faces asking for donations?
not only that, if u got no money, how's that our business? just like you said, not everyone has the money, thus the need to help those who can't help themselves, like you, dear lady, who could actually work for it. even my dad also at least put in $2. it's not alot, it's not like it means anything (hell even my sis could put in money), but even if it's not for the community chest or what not, it's for the fact that someone plucked up the courage to walk around in the sun to ask strangers for money.
the poor girls who just stood there and got yelled at i guess didn't wana do anything about it either. on the one hand, walking off would have seemed rude and such, and they were in their school uniforms (SCGS - one of the top schools, so can't be helped =/). on the other hand, if they had replied, she wud have just ranted that "u don't have children to feed, how would u know?"
i think while we don't have children to feed, it's only fair to view us in another light. most students work part time nowadays to support their habits, without relying too much on parents. while parents had willingly give, alot of teenagers now want to go movies, buy stuff for friends, support multiple handphone bills. it's not the same, but we have also grown to understand the word "bills" as much as auntie ah-soh does.
what wud i have done back then while i was in their shoes?
sigh, i would have stood there too. don't wana embarasss my school also la...
article written can be found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment