An activist wannabe questions whether he actually cares about the people he purports to want to help. In ‘poetry’.
A lone cleaning woman shuffles about
Broom and pan in gnarled and weary hand
Sweeping up the discarded cigarette butts and ash
Flicked carelessly on the ground under a ‘No Smoking’ sign
Bent over with suffering born of inconsideration, she utters not one
Word of complaint, nor does she
Curse those who have added to her cares.
I want to reach out, apologise
For callously adding my own detritus to the pile,
For making her life harder than it needed to be,
Yet I do not.
A man comes up to my table
Offering some few knick-knacks for sale,
Pleading for something to ease his burden,
For someone to see him as a human being,
Yet I cannot, will not do so.
Is it the awkward feeling I get when my
Personal space is invaded?
The fact that I don’t want to break the fifty in my wallet?
Or does it go deeper than these silly little excuses?
The ‘untouchables’, the ‘little people’, the ‘nobodies’
The leaflet passers, the hookers, the beggars, the junkies
The ‘invisible people’
Appear with such clarity that I stand naked, helpless,
Condemned by my indifference
Before a court of accusers whom I had refused to notice before.
A million fingers pointed at me,
And I can do nothing but struggle under the weight of an overpowering
Guilt, a weight lighter still than
The cross I had forced them to bear.
For all that I profess and am seen to
Love humanity in the abstract,
The concrete reality is a bit trickier to handle.
Slumbering in my little feel-good bubble,
How can I justify what I do when I care not
For the people I’m supposed to be doing this for?
I cannot wonder any more why I’m so unlovable
When I’ve proven to myself that I’m so unloving.
If there’s a loving God above looking down,
Teach me how to share Your love
Because I do not know if I have any of my own to give.
Thean See Xien is a horrible person who has failed to live up to Edmund Bon’s exhortation to ‘reach out and touch someone’. He would like to eventually be able to practice compassion and love instead of merely preaching it.
See Xien is a two-faced liar. Until now, he continues to enrich Barisan coffers by working for Petronas, robbing the rakyat. He has zero morals and zero credibility.
Ah, love the poetic expression in this.
Mr Thean See Xien works as a senior legal executive with Petronas, quite possibly the most corrupt goverment-linked company. If he's serious about helping the least fortunate, then he should stop being a hypocrite and stop enabling Petronas to rape and plunder the land.
Mr Thean See Xien can start by quitting his filthy job, giving up his 'benefits' and joining a good NGO full-time to atone.
1. Buy food for a beggar, even if it is just one meal for the day. It could be his only meal for that day.
2. Call up Jabatan Kebajikan if you see the same unkept man of unsound mind around the area over a month. It could be he has no one at all in the world.
3. Call up the police if there is a suspiciously abandoned car in your neighbourhood. It could be some poor man's stolen car.
4. If you find a lost child, hold on to him/her or surrender the child to the Shopping Mall/Building Management, or to the Police if you have to rush. Her parents or guardian will be looking for her.
Things my Mother taught me.
See Xien,
I enjoyed this, and am reflecting. Thanks.
You're not a horrible person. Just do a little every day and each small deed will encourage you to do another, especially when you see how much your little action lights up another. We're not millionaires and we can't be giving away cash and buying things we don't need everyday but give when you feel you can spare it. Otherwise, donate your time. =)
Though we would like to give a thousand excuses each time we do not live up to our beliefs, saying we are just plain human, we must remember we are created in His image, both human and divine. It is in subscribing to the latter that we must always be conscious that what we do to others, we do to Him and what we fail to do for others, we fail to do for Him.
I know some of us hate to be duped into parting with our hard-earned money. This is something I've learnt from a priest who, himself, have many times been fooled. He said that he would still give, just that now, in smaller amounts, so that if it went to a trickster, it wouldn't feel so bad!
Another thing I've learnt; the first time is the hardest. Practice makes perfect. Once you have done charity of some sort, whether money, time or effort; don't look back. Don't judge whether it was worth your while. Just do it! Somewhere, somehow, someone's life would have changed for the better because of what you did. If you truly believe in Mt 25:45, He has found you. Abandon yourself in your beliefs, He will guide you. You will be fine and in my opinion, much blessed. God bless.
If i may, can i just share, yes love is not to be preached but put it into action, however little.
One day, i saw an ice-cream man peddling his tri-cycle under the hot sun, and i screamed at him and passed him a fifty ringgit note. I was fifty ringgit less but i had blessed a soul !!!
While i had my soup kambing in the Indian restaurant one day and a begger kind of smelling looking man walked to me and said he was hungry, I ordered him chepati and roti canai and a bowl of hot soup. And it cost me less than RM10 la but i had bless a soul for that day!!!
I also make it a point that whenever i see the man selling tambun biscuit in the market, i will make sure that i will get a packet or two from him not because i love the biscuits but i determine to ease his burden a little, then, i give the biscuits away…
We dont have to be Bill Gates to give away billions but our little tiny action does count !!!