Chinese New Year vs Haiti

Chinese New Year is a festive season celebrated by everyone. Walking around the streets in Orchard Road or Chinatown would cause one to be overwhelmed by the strong festive mood. Coloured lights are hung drooping from trees and pictures of the God of Wealth can be seen everywhere. Everyone enjoys the festive season, buying New Year gifts, New Year goodies, New Year clothes, shoes, etc.

Visiting the shopping malls would give you the worst experience of a lifetime. Squeezing through crowds of sweaty, smelly, stinky bodies wet with sweat, with the smell of sweat wafting into your nose, one would definitely feel disgusted. Yet, everyone is more than happy to continue shopping in this “perfect” atmosphere. But why is that so? Because we are Singaporeans.

Which Singaporean would be able to resist the temptation of walking towards a shop which has hung a red banner and on it says “Sale!”? Which Singaporean would be able to resist the idea of being able to buy items at a discounted price? Thus, despite the environment and poor conditions, we Singaporeans would always rush to the nearest sales, as in this case is, the Chinese New Year Sales. Bags, watches, jewellery, shoes are all sold at a discount and we are more than willing to spend large amounts of money to buy the items we want as it is “more worth it”.

This is the scenario commonly spotted during Chinese New Year. Most of us would not have much opinion about it as we are already used to such a chaotic scene. However, we should look at this from another point of view, from a poorer point of view, from a less fortunate point of view, from a less privileged point of view, from the point of view of the Haiti civilians.

As we celebrate the new year, how many of us would constantly be reminded of the pitiful state the Haiti citizens are in? As we prepare for a new start, how many of us are actually reflecting on how we could help those unfortunate citizens? As we usher in the new year and pledge to do more good, how many of us realise that if we had donated all we had spent during the Chinese New Year to the Haiti citizens, what possible state could they be in now?

Of course, I am not discouraging us to break away from past traditions by not buying anything new and festive during the New Year, but I am trying to emphasise on the importance of our willingness to sacrifice. As we enter our large spending spree for the New Year, shouldn’t we consider about how we could sacrifice a little luxury to donate a considerable amount to the Haiti citizens. The amount you donate may not be that significant, but nevertheless, if everyone puts in a little effort on their part, then the effect would be surprisingly great. Never look down upon unity.

Let us put ourselves into the shoes of those victims of the Haiti earthquake. We are stuck on this lonely, desperate, eerie island. Life has been disrupted due to nature’s forces. Yet, the other countries are celebrating new year as though nothing has happened; they are spending big amounts of money for their personal luxury. Have they ever spared a thought for us? Have they ever taken the initiative to spend lesser and donate the rest of the amount to us? A little effort by everyone would amount to a huge contribution!

Indeed, we should always look upon the less privileged, reflect upon our luck and thank God for letting us lead a fortunate life. But that is not sufficient. Being more fortunate, we should not only appreciate it, but also spread some of our care and help to the less privileged. In this way, a win-win situation would be ensured and both parties would benefit; the less fortunate would benefit in terms of the increase in help received while we would benefit as we have just taken another step closer to becoming a civilised society.

Thus, I appeal to all of you, cherish what we have, and spread this warm river of love and care, let it flow around the world, let it flow into our hearts, let it unite all of us, the privileged and the unfortunate…
-Ho Jin Yang, Golden Sheep-