Charity, Dead or Alive?

so there's the case of the man who died after jumping off the MRT platform.

and guess what?

Singaporeans flooded in to help his family, giving his family a total of $500000. that's right folks, that's half a million dollars that Singaporeans chalked up for the family. such big hearted people, we Singaporeans are.

however, let's pause for a while and think. why did it take such a tragedy for people to notice and help this family? why did no one else find out that this family is living in such harsh conditions? why did no one extend a helping hand before this man jumped? and what if another poor person were to be inspired by this man's example and jumped too? would this other person's family get $500000 too?

and of course, people are once again blaming the government for the tragedy. why didn't the government do anything to help this person? how could the government allow this person to suffer so much that such a tragedy happened?

my answer comes in the form of the following questions: why didn't his extended family, his friends, his neighbours, all these kind-hearted Singaporeans go and help him before he jumped?

clearly, Singaporeans has the ability to help those in need. the question is whether we have the will to. perhaps all it takes for us is to keep our eyes open to the people around us, to be alert to their suffering and constantly think of ways that we can help. and if we are all willing to do that, then we won't have to blame the government for not being able to prevent such tragedies, because we would be there to ensure that such tragedies do not happen.