- Topmost on my mind – Have a lavish wedding! Maybe at some overseas resort. And I can fly all my guests there to grace the occasion.
- Next – Honeymoon in Europe, or Italy, or Rome, or Greece, or all of the above! One month maybe. Not having to worry about taking one month’s no pay leave. Living in 5-star hotel suites with my own private pool! And of cos, I’ll fly first-class! On a first-class rate!
- Ok! More practical – Buy a condo? Maybe a small one in town? Or a terrace house in some ulu parts of Jurong. Oh and of course, with gold-plated fittings, furniture & all!
- Ha! And something I like – A car! Ok, since I’m not a sports car fan. I want a Honda Odyssey… hmm… and that’ll leave me with ample balance. =/ Maybe I can throw in a Mini-Cooper? To drive when I’m not out with the family.
- And the universal answer! – Since I can’t buy world peace, I’ll just donate all my money to the NKF!
Spent a long time browsing today’s papers. What with the funeral of the poor girl in the body parts case, and the murder trial of the little girl in a warehouse store, all of which have been pushed to second page news, to make space for front page reports of the NKF-SPH lawsuit!! Oh wow, what an eyeful!
I am not an NKF fan to start with. As in, I stopped giving to the NKF many years ago. For a really petty reason. I’ve got a cousin who has a failing kidney. He was born with a kidney that doesn’t grow with him. Since young, he was diagnosed with the illness and about 15 years back, when he was in his teens, his kidneys stopped working altogether. Doctors gave him a couple of years to live. But he survived till now. 15 years later. And in all his years of ‘bonus’ life, he doesn’t have a job. He quit school after a while, not completing his secondary education. He sits at home and gets pampered by his mother. Last year, he got married, bought a flat with borrowed money, and continued to stay in his parent’s flat, leaving his empty. All the while he’s on dialysis treatment. Oh NKF helped him! With some contribution to his CPF from his dad’s bus company, he enjoys subsidized dialysis treatments. And with the discomfort, (God bless those who has to sit through the many hours of dialysis), my cousin often gives up halfway, not bothering to finish each treatment, thus rendering the dialysis wasted. My donations go to help people like these? Oh no… There are definitely better ways to be charitable.
It’s odd. There are two kinds of reaction when people fall terminally ill. The kind who give up on life and abandon themselves to waste day after day. Then there are those who choose to fully utilize their last days and make the best out of them. Donations to help the latter will be a blessing. However, for the former… hmmm.
And so today I made another discovery! NKF, a non-profit, charity organization, pays its CEO $600,000 a year! What an average executive is able to earn in 20 years! Well, and that plus salaries of other members of the ‘board’ so often mentioned in the lawsuit. And other high-ranking staff! Oh wow! No wonder they need so many NKF events and charity shows! So many flag days, with school kids hogging the MRT stations and bus terminals! Hmm… While we’re at charity shows, Singaporeans must be such psychos, to enjoy watching celebrities performing dangerous stunts, and the more death defying it is, the more we’ll give! And now that they’ve taken out those circus stunts, they give away cars! Oh well… so much for charity if the purpose of giving is to get something else in return! I’ve a question for the sponsors. Why not just donate the prize money to charity?
Pardon my ignorance. But there’s something I could not figure out. Who owns the dialysis machines? How much does the chemicals, or whatever that is used in each treatment cost? And since the machines are reusable, the chemicals cost hundreds and thousands of dollars? How is each treatment of up to a thousand dollar justified? If the dialysis centers are charity operated, then why are the prices marked up? Do away with subsidies; just bring down the costs to something more affordable. And the poor won’t have to suffer.
Every month, there are lots of people who give regularly to charity via GIRO. Money gets deducted and we think we’re doing a good deed helping the less fortunate. Ah! How much of the money really goes into helping and how much to administration, advertisement, and promotions?
Really. It’s incidences like these that makes us skeptical, and hardens our hearts. How many of us will continue to give to charity now?
“Hi! Welcome to my blog. My name is Charity.†;p
*AFTERTHOUGHT*
Quoted from ST, 13/07/05:
If he is an educated person, if he knows the use of the particular office (with the $990 after-discount, gold-plated tap!), for what purpose, he may probably think it is something reasonable.
Oh well! I figure I’m not educated enough… =\
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