What it usually means is that it is a season where people are obliged to give away money as tradition dictates, but this does not necessarily mean that people give willingly, or that the gesture is from their hearts.
However, I'd like to digress the general perception, being that humans are selfish by nature. We aren't, not always. Humans are cautious, and tend to look out for their own well-being above others'. This is survival instincts, not selfishness.
To prove this point, I'd like to share with you all a story of a small miracle. Perhaps it's not what you might think to be impossible, or that it's undeserving to be named as a miracle. But that's why I call it a small miracle, or rather, a little wonder. This really touched me, and so, it drove me to publish this story immediately after it happened.
This story took place about an hour ago.
My family and I had just had our big CNY dinner, this year at the Grand Imperial of Hartamas Shopping Mall. Once again, I had forgotten to bring out my Cross Country donation card, which I had meant to do at all my previous family gatherings. Thus, it was still sitting upstairs in my bag, empty but for my name written on the top.
It seemed that my aunts and uncles had not finished their chatting and catching up, so after dinner, we headed back to my place, where they sat happily in the living room, laughing it up. I was next door, doing my Add Maths homework on the dining table.
Anyways, I was getting tired of quadratic equations when suddenly, I remembered my donation card. I realized that this would probably be my last chance to bring it out and collect donations, so I thought I might as well give it a shot, instead of coming back to school empty-handed. And so, I fetched it, and soon found myself standing in the middle of my living room, smiling sheepishly.
"Err. Hi, everyone. Um, as we're all here tonight, I'd like to talk to some of you about something."
And so I did. I launched into a short speech about what the Cross Country is, our goals, and which charity organizations we are aiming to help. I also gave a little explanation about Children's Wish Society, and how they helped to grant terminally ill children their final wishes.
"So, if you guys would like to help out, that would be really great. I have a donation card here, and any sum would be most welcome. Just give from your hearts."
I laughed lightly, hoping they didn't get the wrong idea and assume I was a conman. I passed the card to my closest aunt, and she smiled as she wrote the first entry in my donation card. RM20. Then it was passed along. RM50. RM20. RM50.
I was taken aback. I had not expected this. I had hoped that each family would give perhaps RM5 or RM10, and maybe then I would be able to scrape the minimum donation of RM55 for Interactors. I quickly stood back while they made their donations, hoping my standing too close was not pressuring them to donate more than they wanted to.
Suddenly,
"Shern, who do I address this to?"
I looked up, and saw my uncle holding up his cheque book. I laughed, thinking he was kidding; the jovial uncle he is. He wasn't. My mum asked him to address the cheque to her, and she would cash in the money for me. Eventually, the donation card had come full circle, and I opened the card. I gaped at the large sums which I found inside. I was utterly dumbfounded and tongue-tied, so I faced them and bowed. "Thank you so much."
*the total donated sum will be withheld for privacy reasons.
And I bowed again. And again. And again.
Tonight, I have learned something. People are willing to give. They want to help. It's just hard to do it sometimes, cos most of the time you don't actually know whether or not to trust that your money will be put to good use. People want to go to bed, knowing that they have helped others, and that somewhere, they have made a difference in a person's life. Who doesn't want that?
I'm just really glad that my relatives had trusted me enough to donate in the way they did. They were all really nice about it, and spoke to me about how all the money would be handled, wanting to be sure that it would reach the people they were hoping to help.
It was a beautiful experience. I had never expected this much to come from such a small group of people. They were giving to strangers; cutting out parts of their own well-being to contribute to that of people they had never met. This is charity, I guess. And I'm really glad to have seen it happen first-hand. It may not seem like that big a deal to some people, but maybe it has to happen to you for you to actually feel it.
Anyways, thanks, relatives. I won't forget this.
Why do fish mongers charge so much for fish?
'Cos they sel-fish ma.
Happy Chinese New Year, everyone.
Jun Shern out.
*Static*
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