Charity

It seems that everywhere you walk in Singapore today, you'll be bombarded with the sight of uniform-clad schoolgirls/boys seeking your kind-hearted donations. Yes, doing charity is a commendable show of humanity. Yes, volunteering to collect charity is good. And yes, I applaud Singapore's huge amount of donations for the tsunami victims and National Kidney Foundation and so on and so forth. The people's effort -especially schools and institutions, and celebrity charity shows- really paid off, as the city-state has become one of the most active and swift donators in the world, funds-wise or volunteer-wise.

Apart from all that, in my own corner of the world, I am beginning to feel that giving your spare cents for charity has somehow turned into an obligation. [Everyone else is doing it, why aren't you?] is the vibe I'm getting more and more these days (it's just me, as you know, volunteer is the word) . I frequently find myself fending off one or two collectors every few steps I take when pacing around the ever-popular Orchard Road area. I have no objections to charity whatsoever, mind you. In fact, as I said above, I applaud the act. But one donation at a time, please. I'm struggling myself, if I keep giving to spare myself the after-guilt, I'll be broke in no time.

On second thought, what a clever idea it is! Why not spare some dollars if you're going to splurge thousands on Ferragamos and Pradas? It's all in the marketing, baby.