Receiving An Act of Kindness

The security guard lady at my workplace is so kind. When I left office, it was raining heavily, so I decided to wait awhile for the rain to get lighter. When she walked past me, she asked:"Sir, you no umbrella ah? This one lend you lah, you can return next week." I thanked her for her kindness and told her that I have one in my bag. A simple gesture, an act of kindness, really can bring two strangers closer :)

An Act of Kindness Spreads Warmth to Everyone

I was queuing up for food during lunch time when I saw a pregnant lady a few patrons in front of me (she looks like she is going to deliver anytime!). The stall owner was busy entertaining the customers as there was a long queue. However, the moment he saw the pregnant lady, he immediately asked her to take seat first and that told her that he would take her order once the person in front of her was done.

I thought that was quite a heartwarming sight to see because the stall owner could have done nothing but he chose to make someone's day better by giving kindness. It was just a simple act (by asking someone to take a seat first while waiting for her turn) but it could really touch someone's heart, not just the receiver but also someone who is watching. When kindness is involved, everyone's a winner!

Encouraging Message From a Beneficiary

There's no better way to start the week than to receive this message from a needy family of 6 (single mum with 5 children), whom I have been persuading to seek help from Comcare for the past few weeks:

"sorie late reply i doing gd n they (Comcare) will help me april to sept 200 per mth plus scc hdb n sp they will diret pay to them tks for asking n help me before this.mmay god bless u wife n frend...."

We can only do so much for the beneficiaries, giving them hope through short term financial assistance but to help them learn how to fish, it is advisable to ask them to seek help from established social organization like Comcare, who can help them with long term planning towards financial independance.

Dream and Seek To Achieve

It rained heavily for the 5th day running. While we rejoice and take a short breather from our watering efforts, I like to share with you this meaningful quote by Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world, indeed it's the only thing that ever has". Each and everyone of us has the power to make a difference. If we can come together and work towards a common goal, we can achieve what others deem as impossible.

Back then, if all of us were to just sit back and wait for things to happen, wait for the rain to come, it may not have come today and more trees would have dried up. Instead, all of us make an effort to collect used water to try to make a difference, at least to a few trees. Then, there were people throwing stones at this initiative, saying it will not work no matter how much water we watered. My personal opinion back then was that whether it worked or not, there is no harm trying. If we try, it may not work but if we don't try, it will definitely not work! Even if our actions don't bring rain, we are at least saving the trees and plants that we watered on. When the rain finally came, I felt so proud and happy that I have joined the many believers in making this happen. I have no idea on long the rain would last but I am very confident that even if the rain stops, there is a group of thought committed friends who are on standby, waiting to give their love and kindness to the trees and plants

Let It Rain In Singapore Initiative

The commonly talked about topics these days are the haze, the hot weather and the browning of trees and plants, as Singapore has experienced minimal rain for the past 60 days. Then, the attention shifted to the government, National Environmental Agency (NEA) questions asked on why they didn't do this or do that. In my opinion, instead of asking what others can do to solve the problem, why not ask ourselves what are the little things that we can do to help the situation?

Previously, I had no idea how to solve the problem, though the thought did cross my mind that we can all do something together to help the situation. I stumbled upon this great initiative started by a friend, Ling, on Facebook.I feel that if we can't think of inspiring ideas like this, the next best thing we can do is to help realize this vision by giving our support.

I used recycled water from washing of rice to fill these plastic bottles, up to a total of 1.7L of waters and started watering the plants, trees and grass patches underneath my blocks. I may not be able to save all the trees and plants in the neighborhood but at least I tried to do something for 1 or 2 of them. If more people can join me in this movement, I am sure we can achieve much more.

Without watering these plants, there will be no transpiration from trees and less likely there will be rain. Without rain, the haze problem will persist. Dear friends, let's start doing a small act of kindness for our environment by supporting this initiative. We will eventually all benefit from this :)

It finally rained heavily on 15th March (Sat) 14 and it had been more than 60 days since it last rained so heavily. I feel so happy and proud to have joined the many believers in reaching our goal together.

Let Kindness Be Your Healing Powers

Dear Friends,

If you are feeling down, sad, worried or going through a bad patch in life, try to give a bit of kindness to others, in simplest ways you can; be it a an encouragement, a nice compliment, or some simple ways to make someone happy. Not only will doing so get your mind off those nonconstructive thoughts, it might even make you feel better. No harm trying :) 

With Kindness Comes Inspiration

After asking around for the last few weeks and with many kind friends sharing the posts to reach out to a wider audience, we are still unable to find someone who owns a lorry/ van and can help out with the collection and delivery of bulky items (furniture/ electrical appliance) to the needy families. I guess the main reason is that most friends don't own a lorry/ van.

This morning, I thought of this idea, why don't I put forward this request to the professionals instead, i.e. companies who are helping people with the transportation when they want to move house/ offices? I can explain to them the good intention behind the initiative when used furniture/ electrical appliance are being collected from kind donors and passed on to the needy families who can't afford them. I can appeal for their support to provide a driver and a lorry to help the volunteers collect and deliver the bulky items between different locations. I can suggest to them a collaboration that benefits both sides, e.g. our volunteers can like their FB page and for every 30 new "likes", they can offer us 10 hours of support.

I searched and found about 20 mover companies in Singapore and contacted them via emails and their FB pages to put forward my proposal. I am really thrilled to receive 3 positive responses within the same day, in fact just within a couple of hours after I sent out my request. Two of the companies have generously offered their services with no strings attached while the third company is seeking their management for approval. I hope there will be more positive responses later or tomorrow.

I would like to share this good news with all my dear friends, especially those who have helped or supported this initiative in some ways. Thank you all for your kindness !