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Tuesday, September 21
A dinner was organized last night(Sep 20th) at the Fish & co, glasshouse, sort of like a last gathering for those dragon boaters before they enlist on Sep 29th or Oct 1st. There were 11 of us, Sharon, cynthia, dawn, xueli, yixian, ono, Tj, vic, kevin loh, bryan and I. It felt good seeing all those familiar faces again.
We were supposed to meet at 630pm. My lessons ended at 4 so i met bryan before that at Orchard. From Orchard MRT, we walked along the underground passage through Wisma Atria heading towards taka. Just infront of the Isetan entrance, we saw this visually handicapped person walking alone, and he seemed very lost. Everybody else just walked by, some looked at him but didn't offer any help. So we did and asked where he was headed.
He said he wanted to buy some mooncakes so i agreed to take him to taka to get it. Then he asked if i could pay for him, saying he doesn't have any money. Of course i was abit apprehensive but in the end i agreed, as he said he wants one only. On the way, we strike up a conversation and he was complaining about how bo chap singaporeans are. How no one wanted to help him.
We reached taka and went on to level b2 where there were rows of stalls selling anything associated with the mooncake festival. We walked to a stall and the sales women wanted him to try a sample and he did after we finally got him to understand that it was only for sampling and not the mooncake for sale. He liked the taste so we bought one ($8!).
Immediately, he asked if i could buy him another one and then i started getting uncertain. In my defence, i'm just a student who isn't working. Eight bucks can last me a whole day. Now there's this needy person who tells me he doesn't have money and asking whther i can buy him an item which is not a neccessity. If it's food like rice or biscuit, most probably i will agree. I admit i really had my reservations about him asking me to buy him mooncakes.
At this point, one of the aunties selling mooncakes pulled bryan aside and whispered to him. I didn't what they were discussing but i had already made up my mind. I had to refused to buy him another mooncake even though i felt bad. I asked him where does he want to go next but he said he'd just stay around the place. So me and bryan left and i asked him what did the auntie said to him. He recounted the auntie saying that the man may be a con artist as she had seen him in toa payoh asking people for money.
She could be wrong about him being a con artist though.. He really seems blind. When he whined about Singaporeans being unhelpful, is he part of the reason why they don't want to help, with his 'strong arm' tactics? Then again, why can't a handicapped person have a little luxury of enjoying mooncakes, when we spend hundreds on the latest shoes or watches? Thinking about it, i feel quite selfish and guilty. Maybe i should have bought him the 2nd mooncake.
9/21/2004 01:30:00 am + + Kese + +
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