Beggary - Malaysian Regular Kopitiam Scene

i'm an ignorant person. I don't give two hoots about what it's like to be the old lady, and the 3.5-feet tall kid who jingle their almost-empty cups, and look intently into my eyes, in hope that i might give them money out of pity. but i'd shake my head. and they'd move on to the next table at the kopitiam. over a few weeks, this scene repeats. then after seeing me frequently, they'd just skip asking me.

this is but a regular scenario at the hawker centre that sells my favourite ang-jiu-mi-hun-ke. a stall i regularly went to lunch in after Sunday Physics tuitions back in 2006. i still sometimes see the same lady and child, when i eat there.

i don't give money to beggars. because i don't earn my own money. and if i really cared, i should get them somewhere to stay and have enough food so that they never need to beg again. it would be like half-past-six to just give RM1-5. Better than nothing? but what's the point of living when all you do is beg to continue staying alive? They'd be begging the next day, and the day after, and so on.

i wonder, what keeps them alive? a hope for a brighter future?

what should i do about them? should i just ignore because there's nothing i can do?
what if I was in that person's position?

then again, that beggar might be just part of an organized syndicate where they send out people in tattered clothes to get money, and then return to live as 'normal' people.

donating would be like helping them in their criminal activities, right?

so how? just don't bother?

i'm curious to know how the beggar came about to become a beggar.
was she violated and then forced into this? did she just give up on making an honest living because she found begging more productive? was she robbed? did she overspend her money?

but i never spoke to any beggar. i wonder why.
fear of being clinged on? safety? fear of something worse? fear of feeling more obliged to help?

i don't know.

how do you prevent people from becoming beggars? education? some kind of welfare policy? economic policies that reduce inequality? what?
what's the cause of beggarism in the first place?

what can i do? what would you do?

but i guess this is one of the reasons why i choose to study economics.
so that perhaps after studying it further, i might understand the financial world better, while making some money somehow.

---
my mind's still jammed. i randomly thought of this. i think i'm gonna submit my average letter instead of trying to make a new and better one. there goes my chances of heightening my chances of getting in. sigh.

EDIT 28 Jan 2010
Picture gallery on homelessness in Malaysia
http://www.thenutgraph.com/hope-and-homelessness

Hmm

I wished I took up a sales-y temporary job. Then today wouldn't have been soo bad.
I shall try once my teaching's done on May 10.




okok. Back to work.

The Man in the Glass

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
and the world makes you king for a day.
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
and see what that man has to say.

For it isn’t your father or mother or wife
whose judgment upon you must pass.
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
is the one staring back from the glass.

You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum
and think you’re a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eyes.

He’s the fellow to please — never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you clear to the end;
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

- The Man In The Glass, Peter Wimbrow

I saw Ankita like-ing this on someone's Facebook note.
I like it too.


My friend in the mirror used to smile most of the time.
But now, she's frowning silently.

Susan Boyle

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Really really good!






Soo disney..

Project What's After SPM

Check it out at http://www.whatsafterspm.blogspot.com/

It's a project to spread the word about the abundance of opportunities and things we can do after SPM, especially for people without internet access. A really good idea. They need people to help out though.

You can:

1. Write about what you've done after SPM. (Extended Deadline: 30 April 2009)

2. Contribute some money.

3. Volunteer to help translate into Malay/Chinese. (Work starts after the English edition is done.)
4. Publicize it by telling your friends/seniors/ur uncle/aunty about it or forwarding it via email or posting it on your blog or spreading the word in your own creative way. ;)

----
I think I'll write in, later. Now busy. :(

Messed up

my mind is.




I have to organize my thoughts.

Articles I liked recently

• Interview with Jane Elliot

• The Disadvantages of an Elite Education

• Hannah Yeoh: The best is yet to come - Haha. So similar to ACJC's motto.
  

Equality essay rant

Edmund Burke said,
"The only thing necessary for the perpetuation of evil

is for good people to do nothing."

I'm tired of fixing my equality essay. It's rather idealistic, informative and unconvincing, slightly contradicting, and gaseous(new way of describing a not-so-good essay!). And to think that I've submitted it to USP already... Whatever lah. I'll leave that to chance.

In any case, while I was reading some racism kind of stuff, I found out about Jane Elliot. She introduced the blue/brown-eyes exercise which makes people experience what it's like to be on the inferior end of racism/male-ism(can't think of the word now).

I think I should read up more about racism and inequality stuff if I were to do a good equality essay. Sigh. Writing's not my thing lah.

Maybe after I'm done with letters to colleges, I'll do it.

For now, I've got my hands full.



Aiyo.. How am I gonna do many many essays when I enter uni later...

-_-

laziness






the stupidest excuse

Last-minuter

Hi blog.. Long time no seeeee.. I can't remember what I posted previously. But whateverlah.

Heh heh. I'm simply, a lazy person.

Got my college application results a few days ago.
They're mostly bad. I think my commonapp essay was terribly terrible.
But I've got a few waitlists. So I have a second chance perhaps.
Worst case scenario is I just go to NUS/NTU, which is still a good deal.

Nonetheless, I have to make my love letters as persuasive as possible - that the school just had to admit me. And there's 7 days to do that. I received quite some advice on these supplements. I think I first need to make my mind think that I can get into those universities. Right now, it still isn't in the right frame. How can I do a persuasive and effective essay with this kind of mind?

While browsing around facebook, for inspiration, I've watched some commencement addresses.
I like Obama's speech at Wesleyan last year. It's rather beyond-thyself kind, making-a-difference-bit-by-bit kind, and bracing-yourself for the future kind. I like. Perhaps I might re-listen/read as I make my appeal letters. I was going to watch Oprah's at Stanford. But internet connection's bad now, so I read it instead. More of life lessons. Hmm. I also like this, also at Wesleyan.
I often like commencement speeches. Because they're so hope-inspiring and arranged well.

Oh! I just submitted my USP application yesterday, at 4 minutes past midnight. I'm such a last-minuter. But hey, in the last hour, I was trying so sooo hard to upload my supporting documents. At about 11.55pm, I finally decided to mail them in instead. Then, I suddenly couldn't access their website. -_- I managed to click on 'submit' at 12.04am. Their system is soo annoying. But I hope they don't disqualify procrastinators from their programme. Hmm. It felt cathartic to finish and submit my essay on equality though. Finally, a reasonably organized essay on that topic. Attempts on this topic before this were too messy and unpresentable.

I hope that I've been teaching Science well. I'll know today as I mark my students' test papers. I hope that me-adapting-to-mixing-malay-in-my-teaching-a-lot-a-lot did not start too late. Four more weeks before I stop being their science teacher.


Now off to work on applications, love letters, teaching preps, and etc.