Social Work - Giving back

This isn't an ambition. This is just what I want to do, to give back to those who need, who in turn will hold another hand when they finally can.

I don’t know why I suddenly wanted to do this. All along, I was pondering about what sort of person I was going to be, whether I would really become a lawyer or doctor, just like how my parents want me to be. It’s just common to hear that a friend of mine will be going to study law in Cambridge, perhaps, or for someone who wishes to follow in her three hundred and forty-sixth cousin’s footsteps to go to Yale. Or maybe Ivy League. They say, “If you want to go overseas to study, you must either be rich to afford it, or be smart to earn a scholarship.”

Well, well, well. Many aspirations, definitely, and I’m not mocking them in any way. But what are you going to achieve by going overseas? Is it going to be special that you came from the University of Siberia? Your portfolio will be dotted with little details such as you went on a Leadership Programme in the Himalayas and you spoke with the tribe leaders and received rare berries picked by ancient monks in exchange for the canned sardines and tattered books you scrounged out from your storeroom. Or you rode on a wolf, leading the people up the Tibetian Mountains. And even saved an octopus from choking on salami with Heimlich. Or you were in Chess Club, the swim team, the person on the Honour Roll every quarter. Not to mention the President of the Student Council, Homecoming Queen, Miss All- Rounder. Beautiful on appearance, but a witch inside who couldn’t care less about others.

This doesn’t apply for everyone, definitely. There are lovely people who do care, and yet are just so good. But again, I’m just mentioning a point here.

So, I’m just planning to stay here, in Singapore, and do what I can. We have many charities and societies that can help, but there are just so many others who don’t get what they deserve. I read in the papers about how a man offered to pay for a family trip for a family who had never been overseas for a long time due to financial and health issues. While it’s a good intention, isn’t it far too good to be true? Use that money for the trip for something else. Rather than to help one family go for a weekend getaway, maybe it can feed ten families for a few days.

Singapore will be my first stop. I will complete my education here, walk into any place which allows me to do what I love, and ask for a job. Minimum wages, happy life. My number one will be hospice care, definitely. It touches minimally on the medical field, but mostly on the psychological side. I will still need to study hard for it, but Singapore would be a great place to start off. I’m doing it for anyone who needs a listening ear, when they’re leaving this world, or when their family is leaving them.

I have to say that I will have to keep my emotions in check very well to work in this field, but that’s going to make me into a person I truly want to be. My priority will be the young and the old, but anyone who needs a hug, I know I’ll have to be there. And I’ll definitely do my best to be there as well.

My second will be social work in terms of raising funds and awareness for anything I can. If what I do helps someone in the littlest way possible, I’ll do it. Singapore is a country that’s well-to-do, I really hope that if you can afford it, then do your part in helping. I don’t have the capital, so what I can do right now is to raise the awareness, that’s all. The situation here is nothing as compared to in other countries, and yes, I will only step foot into foreign places when I’m certain my home is safe.

So, in other countries. As what I always say, one step at a time. I’ll stay near to home, in the little villages in SEA. There’s so much to be done for those people out there. Proper houses, not leafy huts. Hot food, not scraps. Medical care, not all herbs can cure diseases. Malaria, Pneumonia, Tumours. So many things you can succumbed to.

I want to make a change as fast as I can, but SEA is just so big. Maybe I’ll be fifty by the time I’ve truly changed the lives of many families. Maybe by that time, I’ll have a family of people who does the same work as I do, to help others. But what I know that if I really get a guy, he has to support me in the work I do, and I know that if he’s the one, he will do it with me.

So, what is my true dream? Helping the less fortunate is just what I want to do, but my true dream is to live long enough to see that all around the world, everyone’s happy. In Africa, in America, in Asia. From elephants to the orphans sipping a hot drink on a winter’s night. Not just people, but everything else we have.

In Africa, people die from Malaria and starvation every minute of the day. Millions are homeless on the streets of America. I’m going to change that as best as I can. There’s no need for luxuries like Michelin-starred dumplings or the one-of-a-kind herb which kills mosquitoes. Just a simple net for each person to keep the insects away, and a plate of rice and vegetables for every soul who needs a hot meal. I can’t home everyone myself, nor can I feed the world. But I’ll start with it, be an example, and everything will come along, I hope.

I just want to say that you should be grateful for what you have. Be it that you’re a child, teen, adult or an elderly. You have a shelter; you have food on the table every night. You wish for a life of luxuries while so many wish for a life with the basic needs.

If you’re a child, you may want sweets and toys. Perhaps you are young, you are still learning and growing up. But there are many like you who already think that their hunger will never cease.

If you’re a teen, you wish for your parents to give you freedom. You feel that your parents are just so naggy and irritating. But at least you have people who care for you. Who love you for who you are. There are orphaned teens out there who have nothing that you have. All they want is a family.

If you’re an adult, you wish for riches. You wish for your children to excel and become very successful people, who are famous in their own way. You wish to lead a different lifestyle. But there are parents out there, who have children with autism, muscular dystrophy, Down Syndrome. All they want is for their children to be normal. They wish for their child who spent her life in a wheelchair to take her first step. They would give anything for it. They wish for their child to be out of pain. The only thing they want of their child is for her to be normal, to lead a happy life. Being able to tie his shoelace, or feed himself milk. Or even speak. Treasure what you already have. A healthy young one.

If you’re an elderly, you resent your sons and daughters for the lack in allowance. For not letting you visit the casino. But there are people suffering from dementia or stroke. There are old people who are abandoned by their children, yet they still love them so much. You have what they wish for. Their dying wish is to get to see their children for one last time. But you want so much.

If you’re reading this now, please do not take offense to whatever written. This is just what I believe in, and I’m not targeting it at anyone in particular.

I hope that from this, I’ve managed to spread the idea of love and care out to a few more people out there. It’s never too late to help, nothing’s too little. Every little act means a lot. And I hope this message passes on from you to another soul.

Little by little, the world will be a slightly happier place, with more mouths filled, more hearts warmed.

The kindness one does to another may not change the world, but it will change the world to that one person who received the love.

Just remember, there was a time someone was there for you when no others were. You came this far with that little bit of help. It's your turn to help others, who were just like you in the past, except that it's going to change, starting from you.

It doesn't hurt to give that little bit of love :) Move forward, give back. Every smile makes your day. 

That, I promise.