Post Sichuan quake thoughts

Long before (well, about 3 to 4 days before) the quake, I was already feeling unwell. I knew something big was coming. It wasn't different from the 2004 tsunami. But I only wished I knew where it was going to be.

Or would that have made a difference?

It's been almost three weeks after the quake. News are still coming in about the death toll, the quake lakes threatening to burst their barriers and the arduous reconstuction journey ahead.

These are normal, although, honestly, fatiguing to hear so much of all these... I somehow have this thought that come 1 Jun, there might be another biggie. It'll be 68 days to the Olympics. I don't know... It seemed to be a rather bad year for China.

Another development that is getting rather out of hand is fund raising for the quake victims. I guess Singaporeans have to capacity to be overflowing with love, since the last major catastrophe we had was the New World Hotel collapse. After that, we hardly had anything to bleed the country's coffers or the gullible Singaporeans' wallets. We weren't hit by the tsunami or any other natural disasters, except for ever increasing oil and food prices.

But what bugs me is the fact that people are organising fund raising events wave after wave after wave... like many small little tsunamis that take turns to hit different coasts, each time requiring a mass evacuation. It's plain tiring to be constantly bombarded. And there are confidence tricksters out to make a quick buck. Fraudsters apart, people raising money begin to look at you in a funny sort of way when you decide and tell them that you have had donated enough to such causes.

Hey, how much can ONE person donate? I am neither Jet Li or Jackie Chan. How am I going to find so much moolah to give away, especially when I need to worry about where my next meal is coming from? I don't go around telling people that I gave $x at y to the Sichuan victims, do I? So, don't assume that if I say I am not giving, I hadn't given.

The Chinese, as with many other peoples, are very expressive people and know how best to tug at heartstrings. The two poems below, with their laymen translations (from me), are case in point. If you need drama-mamas, try getting the Chinese. It some times make me wonder how people in Singapore could be bawling their eyes out when the only things they recognise in Sichuan are the pandas. And yet they speak of their suffering and their misery, as though they were a part of the entire catastrophe. To outsiders looking in, this is so... hilarious.

I am not a callous person. But I believe to be believable and to be above board, you need to temper your willingness to help with good sense and good taste. Otherwise, your emotions are most ill-placed.