The Empty Society

With reference to Today newspaper, 31/05/2010.

He is the oldest GRC member in Singapore, and the longest. Mr Tan Kim Hong, 72, has served the community for five decades since the 1960s. Being the witness of the changes that Singapore experienced over the past 50 years - from the merger to the IR, Mr Tan says that “GRCs are not what they used to be”.

In the past, Mr Tan says, GRCs are not a group of professionals or businessmen. They are just a small group of energetic teenagers who have the passion to help the community - from repairing the roofs of neighbors, helping a Auntie transport her groceries, to helping the neighboring town building a structure or raising funds for a neighbor who is in financial difficulties.

Much has changed. Today, a GRC is a organization of business-like professionals who constantly complain about the lack of time to help. Today, GRC is a place where “volunteers” enter to secure for their children positions in good Primary Schools, as well as for businessmen to expand their contact list. Today, GRC’s efforts may not be always appreciated. Whenever goodie bags are given out, many resident would say, “Like that only??”. Today, the GRC is indeed not what it used to be.

Mr Tan’s witness really reveals the constant struggle in all of us as human beings to choose between the calling to exercise important values such as gratitude to the society, kindness to our people in our community and constantly seeking personal benefits such as money, positions in Primary Schools for our children, and time. Sadly, the order of the world has indeed shifted from the former to the latter, with the increasingly fast pace of our society today.

I have no qualms with the shifting order and how people are adapting to it. After all, who can survive in this fast society without paying attention to money, time and other more practical needs? Who can spend time helping their neighbors, when they are in shortage of money and food? However, who can be truly happy in this fast paced world? “钱乃身外物” Indeed, values that can carry us through our whole life such as the true passion to help others when they are in need, are more important in the era of ancient China history.

However, it is not true that this ideology is not practical in our modern day society. Look around us, Mr Tan, community volunteers, fund raising organizations - they do not die of starvation. In fact, they seem to do be doing better than many of us! Indeed, do onto others what you want others to do onto you. The fact that kindness begets kindness will last forever and this will never shift with the increasing pace of our society. This will in fact be more true especially in our modern society - where people are cold and selfish, and they lack nothing - not money, not time, but love and kindness.

People are constantly lost and depressed - look around us, we have seen many cases of actors and actresses committing suicide just when they are at the peak of their career, take for example, 张国荣. Why? The reason - they lack kindness, warmth and love in their life.

People nowadays are abundant in physical and materialistic needs, but short on emotional needs. They are constantly feeling a deep sense of emptiness in their hearts, and no matter how they try to numb themselves with work, play and parties, this emptiness will not go away.

Therefore, it is vital that as fellow human beings, we should constantly show our love and kindness to one another, no matter the way - through talking, helping etc. Only through that way, can our society be a more perfect one - one that is both physically and emotionally adequate.