~May Your Light Shine :D~

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

First and foremost, I am gonna apologize to the people reading this post, if there are any, cuz I think I'm gonna sound like a bitch who is suffering from pre-menstrual syndrome but I'm not. Believe me, this moods where I feel like airing my grievances are few and far between unless many things happen, which is seldom since my life is as bland and tasteless like stale water.

Ok, the one thing that is really getting on my nerves is my email provider, mail2world, everytime i try to open an email, it pops out this error message and after like 5,6 attempts, i am still unable to read the email or delete it.

Sigh, the only reason why I am not deleting this account is thanks to its 250mb storage space which I'm using to store some private and confidential emails ie passwords...

Now comes the real deal, I'm sure anyone in Singapore or perhaps even Johore who has watched tv recently has seen one of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) advertisements. Please dun get me wrong, I have nothing against the organisation despite all the hype recently about them having a few hundred thousand (or was it a few million?) in their treasury although they are a non-profit charity organisation.

However I disagree with their method of trying to woo people to call in or sms so as to donate. I always felt that it went against logical reasoning to try and entice people to donate money with cash prizes. If they had cash to spare, why dun they just transfer the money immediately into the fund? Why go through the roundabout way just to show that Singaporeans are really generous? So what if they raised a few million? The very fact that it was a donate and reward system, its bound to raise a few eyebrows.

I can understand if the prizes were cars, houses, electronics,etc as this could be due to certain companies not being able to donate cash outright, still, to truely show how big-hearted Singaporeans really are, I feel no prizes are needed. Take for example the Ren Ci charity show or the tsunami fund. There were no rewards given, except for the knowledge that you have helped another person, and money still came pouring in.

Also, I feel that NKF is indirectly encouraging people to gamble. You see, once you donate (a minimum of $5 per call/sms - exclusive of G.S.T), you stand a chance to win cash prizes of $2888 or a $710 000 condominium. Only a person with really low intelligence can't see that its a real good deal.

On the other hand, the more times you donate, the higher your chance of winning, hence many people will call/sms a few more times in the hope of winning a prize. Obviously, the organization wouldn't mind it either as it works to their advantage - more calls=more money for the fund. Let us not forget that most gamblers are superstitious (this is a generalization but not a baseless statement), so they believe that their luck will get better if they do something good, why not donate money(good deed=better luck) and have a shot of winning money or a car? Isn't that like killing a few birds with one stone?

Another thing, in the advertisements and tv programmes they show how kidney patients can still lead normal lives yet on their charity show, they feature celebrities visiting patients with problems other then kidney failure, and everyone starts crying. I rather they cut the pity crap and show them trying their best to lead extraordinary lives and succeeding.

Before any of you call me a cold-hearted b****, I do empathise with these patients, but I believe what these people need is not just sympathy. If you truly wish to help these patients, and touch their lives in a special way, volunteer your services and you will find it extremely rewarding. For those who are satisfied with just exercising your fingers on a phone, I would have to say you are definitely missing out on something.

My sympathies to the MediaCorp artistes who have to put themselves in sometimes perilous situations year after year to an organization who may or may not need that much help. So at the end of the day, although a charity organization has the funds to build salt-water aquariums with clown fishes and anemone in their dialysis centres for the comfort of the patients, how much good has actually been done?

Let me point out a question many have asked, what about other charity organizations who are doing the same kind of work and in more need of funds than others but lack the publicity? Perhaps we ought to learn to share the funds, since everyone is doing it for the same purpose - to help the less fortunate. And to the really ignorant ones out there, yes, there are charity organizations other than NKF.

p.s. thanks to everyone who had the patience to read the whole post. =)

Lydea blogged at 11:42 PM

May your light shine...
in the darkness...