Do you have any cardboard to sell?

Have you ever watched those beauty pageants on TV and they sometimes ask the winner which charity organisation they would like to donate some of their winnings to? Have you ever asked yourself the same question? Well, even if you dont have a windfall have you ever thought about which group of people that you like to help? I have given that a thought every now and then and realise that I have a soft spot for old folks. Everytime I go to Chinatown and I see an old lady in her 80s selling cardboard on the streets it breaks my heart. I would be thinking she should not be working at her age. She should be enjoying her blissful golden years with her grandchildren and not risk her brittle bones pushing a cart on the roads. Really makes me wonder how we treat our older generation, and makes me wonder if we really need to think seriously whether we need to have some social welfare to cover these people, which I believe are a minority. Most grandparents would be likely not have to resort to selling cardboard or tissue paper. But the underlying point is that there are still such people on the streets.

I remember when I was in HK shopping along the main shopping streets of Mong Kok where everyone was happily shopping away there was an old woman kneeling down on a piece of paper 'kow towing' on the ground for donations. The saddest thing was that she was trying to smile as she was doing it. Then I saw 2 girls buy a packet of food for her. They knelt down next to her and chatted with her for a while and left the food on the floor beside her. That scene nearly brought tears to my eyes. All of a sudden I felt ashamed. Thank God for such people in the world.