This year, I had this great opportunity to meet and work with 6 very giving boys. They came to me and told me they would like to work with me on a project to help the poor. I always questioned my students why they want to help the poor. Is it for CIP hours? Is it to get popularity? It was then they told me their story. Ever since sec 2, the six of them have come together to work on projects to help the poor. They did it without going into any competitions. So each year they looked for a group of people to help. So this year, they wanted to do something different. I asked the next question, why me? There are many great teachers in my school that can take them anywhere they wanted because with their calibre, they can go anywhere with the teachers they choose to work with. I forgot what was their answer because in my mind there was a major problem.
Many of the community projects organized by schools in my country are compulsory. Students must work for 6 hours a year of compulsory community service. Thus, a lot of socially deprived groups have many helpers but many of those who helped them touched and went out of their lives after 6 hours. So I challenged the group to look at sustainability.
Instead of pursuing other projects, I asked them to visit Pipit Road and speak to the Moral Family Service Centre there. So they did. During my absence, they painted and renovated the thrift shop with funds they raised and when I returned conducted food distribution and tried hard to get 20 families adopted for a period of 9 months.
Commendable effort indeed. We went shopping to fill up a bag worth of $35 of groceries that they paid using the funds they raised for the project. They worked very hard to promote these families to the students at school hoping that they will all be adopted for 9 months. They even went to the extent of giving talks at other schools. So far they have invitations to speak at the American School as well as RGS.
They were trying to reach out to a community of youths to cause them to think about the plight of the poor in Singapore.
Throughout the weeks, I worked hard with them at the Finals Day judging. When I came home at midnight, I found two of my boys waiting...they might have fallen asleep but they were waiting. I was surprised that they were up late because it was past midnight on a Friday night. One of them knocked on my MSN window and then he burst into fury. I listened and numbed as I read his anger. Aaron is not known to complain and I witnessed how well he could take the pressure of school, work and projects that he undertook. But when I read how he went on and on and on about the anger towards the injustice, I was really sad about what happened. I was affected and my left arm went tinkling. Although I was not angry but my blood pressure was up.
I asked God to work. I sent an email just before I went to bed at about 0230 and told them they could all get angry but cannot be bitter. They know what it is like not to be appreciated for all the hardwork and then to be totally misunderstood. I am always misunderstood. But I don't sit there and mope. I told my boys to stand up and get on with the next distribution. There are poor people who need us.
I am watching this TV programme from Beijing TV. The MC interviewed a drama teacher. And there are some phrases I want to share. This drama teacher taught many famous Beijing actors and actresses. All respect him for his dedication and his integrity in his work. His acting students remember him to be giving and rich in values. One of the advice he told his students was to 痛饮生活的满杯, that means to drink of life's full cup. So I hope my boys learn to drink from the cup of life. It is not always sweet, always bitter, sometimes sour and more often then not disappointing. But life is rich in all the colours and taste. In order to 感悟人生 (to fully comprehend life), one must be willing to immerse in all that life has to throw at our feet. For those of us with Jesus as our personal saviour, what life is throwing is going to be easier for us because there is an extra pair of shoulders to carry our burden.
The acting teacher is 苏民 and when asked how he encapsulate his life, he said in two phrases 严于厉己, 宽于人. He meant we must be strict with ourselves (that would mean, you need to demand some standards of yourself and uphold that standard and live it. But be kind to others). He is now 81. Perhaps this is his secret to a long long life.
I will now go about my days and meet with people I care about. I hope you too will drink the cup of life to the fullest everyday knowing that it can only get more flavourful as we continue to drink from it.
