Without a rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar.

The heavens must have decided to play some kinda joke with me. After a month's worth of dry weather, it decided to rain the entire day today, on the exact day that I planned to go to the marina barrage with some friends from French class for a picnic. Alors, tant pis, we had a decent enough day with chatting over coffee and shopping, gloomy weather notwithstanding.

The ESP Blackshot competition organised by the ESP Club was held on Friday evening, so I rushed back to the simulations lab after French tutorial. Turns out we over catered, so we had something like 5 trays worth of food unfinished with everyone already bursting at the seams. Unwilling to throw away what was perfectly good food, we decided to pass it to the workers in the building who were still working on the renovations. It was a hellish scene that greeted us when we exited the lift. Compared to our brightly lit and relatively clean floor, this one was very dark with sporadic light sources. Our noses were assaulted by a nauseating combination of sweat and aerosols. We saw an Indian worker painting the wall while wearing a mask. Unfortunately he wasn't wearing protective goggles and his right eye was visibly inflamed.

When I saw that, all my comparatively trivial thoughts vanished and got replaced by a sense of guilt. Here we are complaining about our lives, fretting over our grades and weight while these people are in need of so much compassion. In our design projects labs, protective gloves and goggles are required even with almost no chance of infection. For the poor worker, the state of his eyes and health are simply not worth the cost of a pair of goggles. In the end we had to put the food trays on the only clear surface in the dimly lit room, knowing full well that it'll get contaminated soon enough by the drilling occurring right above it but grateful for the chance to do something good for these people, evidenced by the thankful smiles on their faces as we left. I did construction work before during my NS days and I immediately recognized the exhausted looks on their faces. Construction is shit work, muscles you never knew you had ache constantly and your brain just slows to a crawl. They were working at night so as to minimize the disturbance to the researchers and admin staff working in the building, but it meant that visibility was poor and I wouldn't be surprised if accidents happened.

To me, this exemplifies exactly what's wrong with our society. We consider ourselves kind and compassionate, yet we would rather splurge money on dainty parities or our precious pets than do something for our fellow human beings. Parents would pay close to half a million dollars to send their kids overseas than buy lunch for the workers renovating their house. Teenagers have money to spend days at a cafe and on clothes while engineering graduates from India become construction workers in Singapore because it pays better than an engineering job back home. Yet we shun them like the plague and complain when they want to build a dormitory in our neighborhood. It's just like the mother with 2 daughters who wrote into the forum complaining of smelly NSFs taking the public transport and demanding that they should be banned. I wonder if she'll still say the same after both her daughters get raped by enemy soldiers with her powerless to intervene.

So lest we get caught up in the rat race and self importance, I think it's a stark reminder of the suffering in the world. On my deathbed, I don't want to ask myself exactly what I've done in my life other than the accumulation of wealth and power and be unable to answer. I quote from Matthew 25:37-40. 'Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and cloth you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The king will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.''

Some food for thought. (:

(via Alvin)

Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him.
Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.

For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.

To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
to deny a man his rights
before the Most High,
to deprive a man of justice—

would not the Lord see such things?

Lamentations 3:28-36