Sunday, July 30, 2006

Invisible People

There was something about her that caught my attention, as I looked into her eyes, I felt drawn to her plight. To her outstretched hand, I gave nothing, and averted my glance from the kids at her side.

But as I made my way into the mall, I felt compelled to do something, anything, just to make sure the kids had something to eat tonight. I hunted throughout the mall for a whole roasted chicken, unfortunately, those were sold out. I spent the better part of an hour looking for appropriate food...

In the end, I'm almost ashamed to say that all I could offer her was a loaf of bread. I was actually pretty nervous as I approached, I feared that she might misconstrue my intentions because I wouldn't be able to explain in Malay that it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment gift, that I actually bought it with the intention of giving it to her. But from the look in her eyes as she thanked me, I knew then that she heard the unspoken words between us.

In an affluent society such as ours, why are there still people who fall through the cracks? Why is there a need for a mother to have to beg for money just to feed her children? And most importantly, why are they invisible, with everyone just walking on by without so much as a second glance?

Save your appeals for funds to help the homeless and the destitute, do you help anyone in need or is there a criteria they have to meet? I wouldn't know now, would I? Even if I bought a booklet of "I-don't-know-what" coupons from you, how can I be sure that you don't pick and choose your causes based on your personal beliefs? And surely a multi-million dollar corporation doesn't need to solicit funds just to build spanking new headquarters! I refuse to donate to charitible organisations, not a single cent...

I'd rather go to bed knowing that two little girls didn't go hungry tonight.

Posted by jack at 7:14 AM

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