The Light We Give.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Through this trip to Cambodia, i guess i truly realised how fortunate/unfortunate i am to be a Singapore kidd.

Fortunate being that i get to go to school (since its compulsary) and that there is sufficient opportunities for everyone. This however, is lacking sorely in Cambodia and the kids there are really deprived. Potable water is not readily available and some of them do not even have foot-ware. Not forgetting that those kids who can afford to go to school are more fortunate than their counterparts. (Who knows how the even less fortunate children are faring there.) Beggars, most of them without some limbs, are a common sight and its' hard to not let your heart go out to them.
This being said, however, the Cambodian people are also very fortunate to a certain extent. They lead a more carefree life and are more optimistic than most of us. (We hardly hear the children complain.) To them, school is a place where they can have fun and learn something in the process, whereas for us, going to school is a drudgery.

Unfortunate being that, as a Singapore kid, i feel that most of us have lost our childhood innocence. School grades, homework, materialistic wants are all that cloud our minds. (Unlike the Cambodian kids where they know when to study and when to have fun. They find joy and satisfaction in even the simplest of things) Most of us do not have any skills and are very unwilling to help others, unlike them. They are able to improvise (convert a broom into many painbrushes) and even volunteer readily to help in the laying of bricks and carrying of cement to the well. We really have much to learn from them and as Mr. Sim said: "We might be getting more than what we give to them".

On the whole, i have learnt not to keep focusing on what i lack and instead, look at things from another angle, at how much i already have. I am truly much more fortunate than most of the Cambodian kids and should be contented.

Labels: Yao Qi

reflected at 11:17 PM